WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.600 - Okay good evening everybody I would like to welcome everybody and call tonight's meeting 00:00:07.600 --> 00:00:17.360 - of the Monroe County Council to order. Today is Tuesday May 27th 2025 and the time is 5.02 00:00:17.360 --> 00:00:22.960 - and I'd like to say for the record those that are here council members that are here on the 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:28.240 - dais I'll start over here to my right we have councilors Henry Iverson, Deckard, 00:00:29.040 --> 00:00:35.600 - Wilt, and Vital. And so now we will go ahead for all those that are able-bodied to do so 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:39.680 - to please stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. 00:00:39.680 --> 00:00:50.800 - To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, 00:00:50.800 --> 00:00:56.080 - one God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:00:56.080 --> 00:01:03.600 - All right thank you very much. Next up, 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:14.320 - we are going to go to item number three which is adoption of the agenda. Looks like 00:01:14.320 --> 00:01:22.000 - we do have an amendment for tonight. Auditor's office is asking for us to 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:28.480 - table item 8g which is the health department which was the additional appropriation. 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:36.800 - Before we do that just for sake of transparencies um because we and government like to throw that 00:01:36.800 --> 00:01:43.360 - out there um I'm going to look at the auditor Ms. Gregory and say would you like to give an 00:01:43.360 --> 00:01:49.040 - explanation as to why we are tabling this discussion tonight? Sure I'm happy to do so thank you. 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:58.640 - Um upon review of this item um it was determined that um it it seems the appropriation being 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:04.880 - requested is for several leftover awards throughout the years not just one so a full 00:02:04.880 --> 00:02:10.000 - reconciliation needs to take place and permission from those granting agencies needs to be sought 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:16.960 - prior to moving forward. We also need a new fund number um this is a state fund number and we need 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:22.160 - local fund number for that. Okay and so because our understanding for those of us that serve on the 00:02:22.160 --> 00:02:27.440 - Sophia Travis grant committee that that was like four hundred and some fifty dollars that was 00:02:27.440 --> 00:02:35.280 - left over from 2020 so it sounds like there's more. Yes I believe um some of it Sophia Travis 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:39.680 - money some of it is CARES grant funding and there was one other grant award that is escaping me 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:39.920 - right 00:02:39.920 --> 00:02:48.800 - now. Okay okay so we will go ahead okay so that is an amendment to tonight's agenda that is being 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:55.840 - offered is to table um item 8g and definitely to allow the auditor's office to work with the health 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:01.520 - department um to correct those findings. Is there anything else that anybody would like to amend 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:01.680 - for 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:11.360 - tonight's agenda? Okay and now I'd like to say for the record counselor hawk is joining us at the 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:19.280 - dais so we have all seven of us that are here to do good government work. So um all those that are 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:27.120 - in favor of adopting today's agenda as amended signify by saying aye aye all those opposed same 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:35.920 - sign. All right motion carries so we have table item 8g and definitely. Next up we will go to 00:03:35.920 --> 00:03:42.240 - item number four which is public comment. This is where items that are not on the agenda so if you 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:48.320 - are here in the night you hill room you get to come up to the podium here um you speak for three 00:03:48.320 --> 00:03:54.320 - minutes and you will have a timer that will tell you um how long you got so you can go ahead and 00:03:54.320 --> 00:04:00.320 - speak to items not on the agenda we like to say here in county council that all public comment 00:04:00.320 --> 00:04:05.440 - is welcome the good the bad the ugly of all comments so if you have something that you would 00:04:05.440 --> 00:04:09.600 - like to say again for items not on the agenda you can come to the lectern here in the night you 00:04:09.600 --> 00:04:09.840 - hill 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:16.320 - room or if you are virtual you can raise your hand via teams and you will also have up to three 00:04:16.320 --> 00:04:21.840 - minutes so i'll go to the podium here and see if there's anybody that would like to come up 00:04:21.840 --> 00:04:23.680 - please don't be shy 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:35.040 - and if you come up i believe there is a sign-in sheet you just go ahead and sign your name 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:40.240 - and you can state your name for the record and you'll have up to three minutes 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:49.040 - jay patel good evening council members thank you for the opportunity to speak today 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:54.080 - my name is jay patel and my wife pina have lived in bloomington for the last 39 years 00:04:54.080 --> 00:04:59.120 - we have raised our three children here and all of them went to the elementary school 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:05.600 - and the university in this town for us bloomington is not just a place it's a home 00:05:06.960 --> 00:05:14.080 - we are the owners of the economy and on the south side of bloomington tucked away past the croger 00:05:14.080 --> 00:05:22.400 - and the high school it's a family-run business and it's been our children's home for the last 00:05:22.400 --> 00:05:28.240 - 20 odd years before they went on to make a career out of states for decades we've provided housing 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:33.680 - for bloomington residents via the trustee township not just the perry but also bloomington and 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:33.920 - other 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:41.360 - locations we've had construction workers working on major projects for bloomington and iu that have 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:47.520 - stayed for extended services and during the covet time many people had difficulties and that's the 00:05:47.520 --> 00:05:53.440 - time when we took care of quite a few people which the township especially mr combs realizes 00:05:53.440 --> 00:06:03.280 - on may 16th the tornado took most of our property damaged to the a frame the office and some side 00:06:03.280 --> 00:06:12.080 - buildings and there some of them are irreparable but there are two three buildings that are still 00:06:12.080 --> 00:06:19.600 - repairable and put back to condition we've heard several several losses from all kinds of personal 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:26.160 - property and vehicles and so on and this is the one business i depend on for my income 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:32.640 - more than 20 residents have been displaced due to the damage of the apartments that we have 00:06:33.200 --> 00:06:38.800 - and the town trustee trustee has done all possible to house these people at many different 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:39.440 - facilities 00:06:39.440 --> 00:06:47.200 - in town we are doing our best to recover but cannot do it alone today we're asking for help 00:06:47.200 --> 00:06:55.840 - in two specific ways support to quickly reopen part reopen parts of the motel with minimal damage 00:06:55.840 --> 00:07:00.800 - that is the back apartment building in order to get displaced residents back into housing 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:11.920 - assistance through grants and loans that would help us with repairs and damage of the property 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:19.280 - that would be fully appreciated we're incredibly grateful to the support of friends and neighbors 00:07:19.280 --> 00:07:27.440 - in this past week now we're asking for support from our county to help us get back to our feet 00:07:27.440 --> 00:07:34.800 - and continue serving the community thank you very much another note i thought i i already 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:39.920 - mentioned to you some council members but something surprising was we spent a day and a half 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:40.320 - gathering 00:07:40.320 --> 00:07:47.550 - all the debris and many high school kids were my children's high school friends did all the 00:07:47.550 --> 00:07:48.000 - necessary 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:53.200 - and the next morning we were exhausted waking up to say okay now to put it all into the dumpster 00:07:53.200 --> 00:08:00.320 - went to do and a young man came by six foot tall and early in the morning and he called me hey hi 00:08:00.320 --> 00:08:06.880 - uncle i said who are you and my son stepped out and so he was his best friend from elementary high 00:08:06.880 --> 00:08:12.800 - school and everything else and he just said don't worry i'll take care of it next thing you know 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:17.840 - he has some massive equipment there and with grapplers spent a day and a half to two days 00:08:17.840 --> 00:08:24.400 - with people and completely resolved all my problems in terms of debris of course now the 00:08:24.400 --> 00:08:29.920 - new problems begin but no problem whatever you folks can do to assist not just me but there are 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:35.680 - many other people need help so thank you thank you we appreciate that thank you 00:08:35.680 --> 00:08:42.080 - looks like we have another public commenter here go ahead and sign in 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:45.840 - state your name for the record again and you'll have up to three minutes 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:59.440 - my name is bhaveen patel good evening council members thank you for the opportunity to talk 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:04.720 - my father is jay patel and my mother is pina patel who owned the economy in on the south 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:09.920 - side of town i was actually born and raised there and grew up at the economy in in a small 00:09:09.920 --> 00:09:10.400 - apartment 00:09:10.400 --> 00:09:14.960 - in the in the back of the office so i was born and raised in bloomington went elementary school 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:21.920 - here in montessori uh tri north bloomington north and then eventually at iu and live elsewhere but 00:09:21.920 --> 00:09:27.200 - anytime i come back bloomington is home and we've seen that more than ever from this last week and 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:32.880 - a half especially with friends and family coming from california friends who i haven't spoken to 00:09:32.880 --> 00:09:38.400 - in many many years but have come out to support us my mother and father have always taught us to 00:09:38.400 --> 00:09:44.000 - contribute to society we we do our own thing but contribute to society in the community and we've 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:48.400 - done that with my sisters as well through habitat for humanity through boy scouts girl scouts 00:09:48.400 --> 00:09:54.400 - social activities throughout the community and you know serving others even at the motel 00:09:54.400 --> 00:09:59.840 - working there when we were younger and growing up seeing the amount of support over this last week 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:04.960 - and a half especially for them seeing the amount of ex-tenants not even current tenants that have 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:09.280 - come by just to check on my father and mother to make sure that they're okay see the property and 00:10:09.280 --> 00:10:15.280 - offer any support has been heartwarming we've been lucky enough to get by through friends and 00:10:15.280 --> 00:10:15.840 - family 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:22.560 - and the support of the community in the city and now we're offering looking for you know ways to 00:10:22.560 --> 00:10:28.000 - amplify that and see how we can have the guidance and support to move forward and open the motel 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:34.570 - and continue serving the community i think they've done a wonderful and amazing job for 39 plus 00:10:34.570 --> 00:10:34.880 - years 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:40.480 - helping many people throughout the community i'm sure some of them will come to speak in the in the 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:46.000 - following weeks so we're just looking for support of the council of the city and county in the 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:51.920 - community to help this place get back up and running help my childhood home get back up and 00:10:51.920 --> 00:11:09.840 - running and house as many people as we can in a safe and proper manner thank you very much 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:22.480 - good evening um my name is tamby weichel cassidy and i'm here kind of speaking about the clear 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:22.880 - creek 00:11:22.880 --> 00:11:28.320 - area and i really appreciate your giving me the time at the microphone this evening to do this 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:36.720 - seeing the post office get just disintegrated has been a really tough journey for me personally 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:43.440 - since my husband and i own the llc that leases to the post office and so we're going through 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:50.160 - some really different types of approvals and things like that and having to you know hire 00:11:50.160 --> 00:11:56.880 - professional engineers and architects to basically redraw that building and so those kind of 00:11:56.880 --> 00:11:57.440 - additional 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:02.000 - expenses are going to make it tough for us to meet a recovery budget but i just want to bring those 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:08.320 - kind of things to your attention because boy i sure am not the only one i mean if you drive out on 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:20.000 - victor pike and stancifer lane and hide a lane um it's tough stuff to see so if there's any kind 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:26.960 - of um support that you guys can give it's greatly appreciated thank you thank you we appreciate 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:27.280 - that 00:12:36.640 --> 00:12:44.080 - good evening good evening i actually already signed in sorry so um good evening my name is 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:49.680 - julie hartesty and i'm a resident of minero county and today i'm giving public comment as a county 00:12:49.680 --> 00:12:54.400 - council appointed member of the minero county women's commission currently the women's 00:12:54.400 --> 00:12:59.200 - commission's purpose states the commission shall serve in an advisory role to assist residents 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:04.160 - businesses and the government of minero county in addressing issues of gender equity in all aspects 00:13:04.160 --> 00:13:10.560 - of society as planning moves forward for the new county jail facility i would like to comment on 00:13:10.560 --> 00:13:15.920 - the minero county sheriff's office in jail and justice center pre-design report that was released 00:13:15.920 --> 00:13:21.920 - on february 27th members of the women's commission have reviewed the space plans and while the 00:13:21.920 --> 00:13:27.600 - decision to increase the overall number of beds to 500 is incompatible with stopping the trend of 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:32.640 - increased incarceration in our county and reducing recidivism of people penalized more for their 00:13:32.640 --> 00:13:37.760 - circumstances than crimes committed we do want to acknowledge that this plan includes spaces 00:13:37.760 --> 00:13:38.400 - designated 00:13:38.400 --> 00:13:44.480 - separately for female inmates for detox bullpen video arraignment waiting medical and mental 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:50.480 - health holding cells and housing units and an inmate worker dormitory alongside that the plan 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:54.800 - also includes designated special housing units in both the male and female medical and mental 00:13:54.800 --> 00:14:00.080 - health areas for housing marginalized genders we want to make notice of those plans and point 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:04.480 - them out to you all on the county council so that you can also keep an eye on those designated 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:09.440 - spaces to ensure that if there are budget cuts that require changes to this plan for a new jail 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:14.960 - facility those designated spaces are not part of any cuts and remain in place for the safety and 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:20.960 - dignity of all people incarcerated in our county jail the plan also identifies general population 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:26.400 - housing by number of rooms and beds but does not make note of any separation or designated areas 00:14:26.400 --> 00:14:32.800 - for female inmates or other marginalized genders that is 384 of the 500 total beds planned for this 00:14:32.800 --> 00:14:37.760 - facility and we would encourage more details be made available to ensure that people incarcerated 00:14:37.760 --> 00:14:41.760 - in our county jail who are women and other marginalized genders are ensured the human 00:14:41.760 --> 00:14:45.280 - dignity of being safe and who they are and not further punished for how they present 00:14:45.280 --> 00:14:49.440 - themselves to the world thank you for your time and attention thank you 00:14:53.120 --> 00:15:01.120 - i'm gonna look on teams and i don't see anybody's hands up currently on teams but again if you 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:05.920 - are on teams and you are a member of our public you also can make public comment 00:15:05.920 --> 00:15:13.280 - and you can do so by raising your hands via teams um so looking to the audience here in the natu 00:15:13.280 --> 00:15:17.680 - hill room if there's anybody else that would like to make public comment again you can come to the 00:15:17.680 --> 00:15:24.640 - lectern here um and then last call for those that are online via teams i'll just wait a couple 00:15:24.640 --> 00:15:37.040 - of more seconds and see and seeing none on teams um as well as seeing nobody else here in um the 00:15:37.040 --> 00:15:44.880 - natu hill room i will say then that portion of public comment for items not on the agenda has 00:15:44.880 --> 00:15:52.080 - ended and um as just a sidebar note we appreciate those that came out um to especially those that 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:58.240 - have been deeply affected by the recent tornado um to come out and and speak we greatly appreciate 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:05.040 - that as well as um Ms. Hardesty from the women's commission as well all public comment regardless 00:16:05.040 --> 00:16:09.640 - whatever you think about public comment is welcome that is what good public servants do is we 00:16:09.640 --> 00:16:10.080 - listen 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:17.120 - to the good the bad and the ugly of that so we appreciate that thank you next up we will move 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:22.720 - on to item number five which is department updates and departments um can give an update 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:27.920 - and you can do that up to 10 minutes so again if you are a department that is here in person you 00:16:27.920 --> 00:16:33.280 - can come to the lectern or you can sit at the table here and you have 10 minutes and if you are 00:16:33.280 --> 00:16:34.400 - online 00:16:34.400 --> 00:16:43.120 - you can also raise your hand via teams so looking in here not seeing any movement 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:52.400 - and also not seeing any hands raised via teams as well um we will go ahead and move on to item 00:16:52.400 --> 00:16:59.120 - number six which is the consent agenda items council i move to approve the following consent 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:05.600 - agenda item for may 27th a the highway department's request for a category transfer and fund one 00:17:05.600 --> 00:17:05.920 - one 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:12.640 - six nine dash zero zero zero zero local road and street in the amount of two thousand two hundred 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:18.960 - thousand dollars from the supplies category to the services category and item b approval of council 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:27.280 - summary minutes for april 8th and april 22nd 2025 second okay we got a motion and a second are 00:17:27.280 --> 00:17:27.600 - there 00:17:27.600 --> 00:17:34.560 - any questions from council looking to my left and then look into my right yes councilor hawk 00:17:34.560 --> 00:17:43.520 - not just a question but as a reminder the public that the transfer that the highway department is 00:17:43.520 --> 00:17:50.640 - making uh is because of the harsh winter that they're putting that some of the projects on home 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:56.880 - and so this is for more funding for paving projects and the flashing and the trail projects 00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:03.200 - and that's something i think the public would like to like to know that they're doing well thank 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:03.360 - you 00:18:03.360 --> 00:18:09.200 - for noting that for the public okay anybody else have any other questions or comments on consent 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:20.240 - agenda items last call okay and um since we are all here we can do consent consent agenda items 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:26.000 - by voice vote and so all those that are in favor of approving consent agenda items signify by 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:26.320 - saying 00:18:26.320 --> 00:18:33.280 - aye aye all those opposed same sign motion carries and consent agenda items are approved thank you 00:18:33.280 --> 00:18:40.160 - very much um before we get into our business i'd also like to note we've also if you've paid 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:45.520 - attention to our packet tonight um we've kind of changed it up a little bit to just kind of 00:18:45.520 --> 00:18:51.600 - have a better flow of the meeting i know a couple of weeks ago we had a a little bit of a marathon 00:18:51.600 --> 00:18:58.960 - meeting here but in order for us to make sure that we are staying to task council member iverson 00:18:58.960 --> 00:18:59.040 - and 00:18:59.040 --> 00:19:04.960 - myself will try to do a really good job and making sure that we are timing ourselves accordingly we 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:11.280 - are sticking to the items and asking the questions um that are pertaining to the items that are 00:19:11.280 --> 00:19:18.000 - presented to us during that time that that particular item is presented and so again each 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:24.800 - department will get 10 minutes to give an update or i'm sorry um to give their presentation and so 00:19:24.800 --> 00:19:32.000 - your item or your timer will be listed thanks to tst on the screens here um and once that timer 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:38.080 - is done in 10 minutes we will kindly remind you or we'll give you a warning um and then after it's 00:19:38.080 --> 00:19:43.440 - all said and done in the 10 minutes are exhausted um we will definitely let you know and then for 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:51.680 - council colleagues here um we will have about five minutes for a q a and i know we do a good 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:58.160 - job of trying to do a lot of our research ahead of time um but if there's anything that goes 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:04.800 - beyond that time frame then i will look to council members to see if this is an item that should be 00:20:04.800 --> 00:20:11.920 - tabled um considering the topic that's at hand again not really trying to tell anybody not 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:18.320 - what to do here because i know all seven of us are all elected um but again it's to help with the 00:20:18.320 --> 00:20:25.200 - flow of trying to make the meeting more efficiently and those that are here we can really do the 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:32.880 - business and do it in a timely manner so is there anybody that has any questions regarding this new 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:45.280 - procedure no okay seeing none we will move forward um and then we will go on to item number seven 00:20:45.280 --> 00:20:51.840 - which is an ongoing matter that was an item that was tabled from our last meeting council as a 00:20:51.840 --> 00:20:58.400 - reminder uh this item was tabled from the april 22nd and may 13th council meetings i move to 00:20:58.400 --> 00:20:58.880 - approve 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:06.720 - the board of commissioner's request and fund 4914-0000 showers building operating fund 00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:14.160 - the creation of account line 30006 contractual and simultaneously approve an additional appropriation 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:24.160 - of 2500 in the services category second we got a motion and a second i see mr jeff cockrell is here 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:31.280 - and again um lots of conversation that was had at the previous meeting where you sent all of us 00:21:31.280 --> 00:21:36.800 - some information related to what some of us were really asking and i hope we've all kind of taken 00:21:36.800 --> 00:21:41.120 - the time to digest that over the past couple of weeks but mr cockrell would you like to add 00:21:41.120 --> 00:21:47.520 - anything else not not much i think i used my 10 minutes last week and so or two weeks ago and so 00:21:47.520 --> 00:21:53.120 - i don't know if there's a whole lot to add other than yes for the the council asked for some 00:21:53.120 --> 00:21:58.240 - information about the corporation which i believe i sent that night there are questions about you 00:21:58.240 --> 00:22:02.400 - know kind of the statutory framework for how building corporations are formed so i forward 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:07.520 - the memo from a bond council who handles these kind of things routinely so hopefully that 00:22:07.520 --> 00:22:12.160 - would address those questions i have not heard any questions that come back through the council 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:19.840 - office so hopefully everybody has a better understanding of what's going on all right thank 00:22:19.840 --> 00:22:24.800 - you and i'm looking over here to my left of first to see if anybody has any other additional 00:22:24.800 --> 00:22:37.680 - questions from mr cockerel related to this item no i don't have any questions i am looking i think 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:46.720 - everything is included in the packet everything that you sent to us so i would just um note that 00:22:47.600 --> 00:22:54.560 - should anybody want to understand the answers to the questions we had that's where they should 00:22:54.560 --> 00:23:03.280 - take a look i'll be quick i appreciate very much the additional information that was sent i think 00:23:03.280 --> 00:23:12.800 - this item has been well looked at and reviewed per what the council is tasked with doing but see no 00:23:12.800 --> 00:23:19.680 - reason that we should delay any longer on the matter simply because i think we got a lot of other 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:27.280 - things pressing on our agenda other than something that has been in place for some time now looking 00:23:27.280 --> 00:23:34.720 - over here to my right and counselors have anything to add council hawk yes i did send a question in 00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:40.960 - to the council office and they might have tried to answer this and i'm not seeing it though they 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:52.080 - might have i'm seeing that in the balance cash balance available is over 20 000 and so i'm trying 00:23:52.080 --> 00:23:58.900 - to figure out why why they don't just pay for this out of the fund dollars that they have rather 00:23:58.900 --> 00:23:59.040 - than 00:23:59.040 --> 00:24:06.080 - do an additional is there a reason behind that i'm i don't handle this funding so i don't have the 00:24:06.080 --> 00:24:13.040 - answer to that question and kim i think you were maybe a part of that discussion or heard it so 00:24:13.040 --> 00:24:19.520 - yeah maybe you sent me the answer and i missed it i was busy working on cola stuff and didn't see 00:24:19.520 --> 00:24:19.680 - it 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:28.000 - to last um this is a budget that has not been budgeted so this is the first and only item to 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:34.800 - be appropriated so that's why there's nothing in there and the cash balance is 20 000 so it's not 00:24:34.800 --> 00:24:43.760 - it doesn't have any other appropriations okay thank you okay anybody else have any other questions 00:24:43.760 --> 00:24:51.600 - all right and seeing none um we'll go to public comment if you have a public comment on this item 00:24:51.600 --> 00:24:55.680 - please come forward to the lectern here and then that you hill room or you can raise your hand via 00:24:55.680 --> 00:25:08.960 - teams and seeing none michelle may we please have oh um okay uh now we have a hand and if you are 00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:14.000 - able to unmute please go ahead and do so and you'll have up to three minutes 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:24.240 - hey good evening council uh this is steph muchler a resident of Monroe county um i 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:27.920 - hesitated to make public comment because actually i had been looking at this item in the packet 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:28.160 - ahead 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:33.200 - of time and i admittedly had missed that it was discussed in a previous meeting so i'm kind of 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:40.960 - playing from behind here um but in reviewing the packet uh i had some sort of troubles just sort of 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:46.400 - understanding the function of this corporation and how it sort of all tied in so my original 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:52.080 - plan was to ask for some clarification as to the function but i hear that it may have been 00:25:52.080 --> 00:25:56.800 - discussed in a previous meeting um i did review the information that i guess i'm understanding 00:25:56.800 --> 00:26:01.760 - that mr cockerell sent in and that information did not really provide the clarification i was 00:26:01.760 --> 00:26:07.330 - looking for but you may just say that his statement from a few weeks ago may provide the 00:26:07.330 --> 00:26:07.920 - clarification 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:12.320 - that i was looking for and that could help resolve the confusion so thank you so much for your time 00:26:12.320 --> 00:26:23.120 - and i appreciate all of you thanks bye thank you all right if there are no other comment 00:26:23.120 --> 00:26:28.000 - or public comments then michelle can we please have a roll call vote 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:48.800 - yes yes thank you very much thank you and i would just tell the gentleman who had public 00:26:48.800 --> 00:26:53.840 - comment i did not see the memo from the bond council in this packet so maybe if you reach 00:26:53.840 --> 00:26:58.000 - out to the council office they could forward to that and i think that would answer his question 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:04.560 - okay duly noted thank you so much mr cockerel thank you all right now we are moving on to 00:27:04.560 --> 00:27:10.320 - item eight which is the new business of council and this is coming from the highway department 00:27:10.320 --> 00:27:15.600 - council i move to approve the highway department's request and fund nine one zero six dash zero 00:27:15.600 --> 00:27:16.320 - zero 00:27:16.320 --> 00:27:22.640 - zero zero ccmg or community crossing matching grant the creation of account line two three four 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:22.960 - zero 00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:28.720 - zero bituminous and to simultaneously approve an additional appropriation of one million four 00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:35.600 - hundred and eleven thousand five hundred dollars in the supplies category second all right miss 00:27:35.600 --> 00:27:36.080 - ridge 00:27:36.080 --> 00:27:42.240 - welcome good evening um this is basically and dot uh provided us the funds through the po and now 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:48.240 - we just need to appropriate it um because the roads are being paved um as we speak so we just 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:55.200 - want to make sure that the funds are allocated so we can pay the invoices all right anybody that 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:56.000 - has 00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:00.960 - any questions or comments from mr ridge mr decker i just want to always take an opportunity when 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:06.800 - lisa ridge is here to praise her ability to have the hot hand with the state in bringing these 00:28:06.800 --> 00:28:13.200 - dollars home and they do so much towards those the paving and other projects and it's just huge so 00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:18.640 - thank you so much appreciate that and i'm sure we'll be asking for the help and the assistance 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:26.160 - in 2026 so remember that at budget time we could not actually participate in this program without 00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:31.440 - that assistance we would not have the budget to be able to match these funds so we appreciate it 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:40.160 - i will just go down the line and i'll go down to um mr iverson uh i ask this question uh sometimes 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:45.040 - and so for the public that wants to know when their road or their street is going to be paved 00:28:45.040 --> 00:28:51.200 - where would they find that information um they can contact us at any time we um usually list our 00:28:51.200 --> 00:28:51.680 - roads 00:28:51.680 --> 00:29:00.160 - sometimes our paving program gets adjusted and it did this year um basically after the harsh winter 00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:05.920 - we had to eliminate some roads uh and then we had to add some roads that were completely demolished 00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:12.880 - in the winter months um we don't ever promise that anybody's going to get the road paved until we 00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:20.000 - have it awarded and done because of those circumstances we keep a list of every request 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:27.200 - we for paving we wish we could pave more but they can contact us we put all the requests into the 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:32.000 - list and then we evaluate them each year for the paving program again it's subject to change 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:39.920 - depending on the weather tornadoes uh it all comes out of one budget um so um yeah they can reach 00:29:39.920 --> 00:29:39.920 - out 00:29:39.920 --> 00:29:45.120 - to the highway department anytime i see if they're on the list um see if they're on our we've 00:29:45.120 --> 00:29:45.280 - already 00:29:45.280 --> 00:29:53.600 - started our 2026 list um but we're yeah we're happy to help inform the public anytime great i 00:29:53.600 --> 00:29:58.480 - would say that's the number one one of the top requests i get is uh how do i get my street on 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:05.120 - the list absolutely it is yeah i it's yeah it's hard to explain um i usually give some examples 00:30:05.120 --> 00:30:10.160 - of roads that we've chosen to be paved so they could go and look at the condition of those and 00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:14.880 - we also have to follow an asset management plan that's submitted to LTAP and it's guided by the 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:21.920 - state where all the roads are graded a certain number one through ten um so and we have to go 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:28.880 - through a training now for that um so that's coming up but i think we do a good job of justifying 00:30:28.880 --> 00:30:29.040 - what 00:30:29.040 --> 00:30:33.920 - we choose to pave has nothing to do with property taxes or what you pay with property taxes it has 00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:39.520 - nothing to do with petitions it's the need of the road and the the condition of the road at the 00:30:39.520 --> 00:30:39.760 - time 00:30:39.760 --> 00:30:48.560 - well said counselor henry you madam president thank you lisa as always i had a chance to speak 00:30:48.560 --> 00:30:53.440 - with the steinsville town council president richie last week richie carter and they're very excited 00:30:53.440 --> 00:30:57.840 - about the roads being under construction and torn up today so i look forward to seeing all the good 00:30:57.840 --> 00:31:02.160 - work up there and uh i mean it's it's putting a whole new grid down it's really great so 00:31:02.160 --> 00:31:07.120 - it's uh it matters very much for our rural spaces so thank you for that oh no problem glad to help 00:31:07.120 --> 00:31:16.640 - them i'm glad they got their award and everything so counselor hawk yes can you tell us where they 00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:22.720 - might look to see what roads are going to be included in this particular one i think we have 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:28.480 - that online we have a different procedure right now for posting on the website and we go through 00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:35.280 - the it department it might list community crossing roads we also have a second list out right now 00:31:35.280 --> 00:31:35.440 - that 00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:41.360 - we're actually open bids on this thursday so we have some more roads to add to it but i'll make 00:31:41.360 --> 00:31:49.040 - sure all those roads that are awarded are listed on on the website thank you all right and again 00:31:49.040 --> 00:31:54.400 - just want to say thank you or thank you for all the work that you all are doing in the light of 00:31:54.400 --> 00:31:59.360 - the recent tornado cleanup as well that should definitely go without mention because you all put 00:31:59.360 --> 00:32:04.240 - some major hours in so just want to make sure that i know i said it at the department head meeting 00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:08.560 - last week but there's nothing also wrong with saying that publicly so we appreciate all the 00:32:08.560 --> 00:32:13.280 - work that you and your staff are doing with that and congratulations on being awarded the grant 00:32:13.280 --> 00:32:18.800 - you're very welcome all right uh anybody that wants to make public comment on this particular 00:32:18.800 --> 00:32:22.960 - item you can raise your hand via teams or you can come forward to the election here 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:29.760 - and then at you hillbrow and seeing none maybe please have a roll call vote 00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:39.680 - councillor hawke yes councillor iverson yes councillor henry yes councillor fiddle 00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:47.200 - yes councillor wilts yes councillor crossley yes councillor dekker yes motion passes unanimous 00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:54.160 - thank you now we move on to item b emergency management council i move to approve the 00:32:54.160 --> 00:33:02.240 - emergency management department's request and fund not 4938-9624 emergency management duke 00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:08.880 - grant the creation of account line 22630 supplies and to simultaneously approve an additional 00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:15.360 - appropriation of fifteen dollars and 40 cents in the supplies category second all right we got a 00:33:15.360 --> 00:33:24.720 - motion and a second i see mr justin baker is on virtually hello good evening council good evening 00:33:24.720 --> 00:33:36.320 - yes uh so in 2023 the council uh approved and uh this it was for 5500 um so and it was to purchase 00:33:36.320 --> 00:33:43.200 - letter radios for the residents who needed uh working source um so currently we have 15 dollars 00:33:43.200 --> 00:33:48.480 - and 40 cents left over for this grant and we are just requesting the approval of appropriation to 00:33:48.480 --> 00:33:56.800 - close up this grant for 2023 thank you and looking over here to my right and seeing if 00:33:56.800 --> 00:34:03.680 - anybody has any questions on this item for mr baker seeing none and then looking over here 00:34:03.680 --> 00:34:11.440 - to my left yes councillor waltz uh yes i think this might just be a quick question for the 00:34:11.440 --> 00:34:19.120 - auditor but what's involved in an appropriation to close out a grant what is that translate that 00:34:19.120 --> 00:34:28.880 - please i didn't work directly with um mr baker on this however um it sounds like he's just trying 00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:36.160 - to utilize the remaining um little bit of grant funding um and so appropriation will allow that 00:34:36.160 --> 00:34:44.480 - permission to spend on something besides what we said we would spend it on before right if the 00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:53.680 - granting agency has to approve right okay all right thank you okay anybody else anymore all right 00:34:53.680 --> 00:34:59.840 - all right and so if anybody has any public comment on this item again please come forward 00:34:59.840 --> 00:35:09.120 - to the lectern here in the night you hill room or raise your hand via teams seeing none 00:35:09.120 --> 00:35:11.280 - maybe please have a roll call vote 00:35:11.280 --> 00:35:24.880 - yes councilor hawk councilor crossley yes councilor deckard yes councilor henry 00:35:25.680 --> 00:35:33.360 - councilor iverson yes councilor fein yes motion passes unanimous thank you and now we will move 00:35:33.360 --> 00:35:39.200 - on um to item c council i move to approve the emergency management department's request and 00:35:39.200 --> 00:35:48.880 - fund 4938-9624 emergency management duke grant the creation of account line 22630 supplies 00:35:48.880 --> 00:35:53.760 - and to simultaneously approve an additional appropriation of fifteen dollars and 40 cents 00:35:53.760 --> 00:35:59.040 - in the supplies category second all right we got a motion and a second mr baker anything to add to 00:35:59.040 --> 00:36:07.840 - this no this was uh just the the 2024 grant and it was for a total of four thousand so we just 00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:16.960 - had the six star 45 cents left all right and i'll look over here to my left and see if anybody has 00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:24.160 - any questions on this item and looking over here to my right mr iverson uh yeah uh i believe that i 00:36:24.160 --> 00:36:30.720 - misread the motion and it looks like item c the additional appropriation is not fifteen dollars 00:36:30.720 --> 00:36:38.560 - and 40 cents but it is six dollars and 45 cents uh and i believe the account line should be two 00:36:38.560 --> 00:36:43.840 - zero zero one one should i just reread the motion here i'm going to reread the motion council i 00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:44.000 - move 00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:53.200 - to approve the emergency management department's request and fund 4938-0000 uh emergency management 00:36:53.200 --> 00:37:00.720 - duke grant the creation of account line two zero zero one one other supplies and to simultaneously 00:37:00.720 --> 00:37:07.440 - approve an additional appropriation of six dollars and 45 cents i see that as a friendly 00:37:07.440 --> 00:37:14.160 - amendment second thank you mr decker thank you very much for that just doing a little cleanup there 00:37:14.160 --> 00:37:22.960 - all right any other or any questions here from right all right seeing none we will go to public 00:37:22.960 --> 00:37:28.320 - comment again if you have public comment on this item you can raise your hand via teams or you can 00:37:28.320 --> 00:37:35.360 - come to the lectern here in the night you hillbrow and seeing none may we please have a roll call 00:37:35.360 --> 00:37:35.680 - vote 00:37:35.680 --> 00:37:39.680 - vote 00:37:39.680 --> 00:37:48.960 - councillor hawke yes councillor crossley yes councillor henry yes councillor fiddle yes 00:37:48.960 --> 00:37:55.440 - councillor wilts yes councillor iverson yes councillor decker yes motion passes unanimous 00:37:55.440 --> 00:38:00.240 - thank you and again just like we told the highway department you all have been in the thick of it 00:38:00.880 --> 00:38:07.120 - with emergency management since almost two weeks ago so we appreciate all the work that you're 00:38:07.120 --> 00:38:13.760 - doing you and jamie both and trying to clean up in the aftermath of the recent tornado so 00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:21.440 - we appreciate that thank you very much thank you all right now we will move on to item d which is 00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:26.080 - from the probation department council i move to approve the probation department's request and 00:38:26.080 --> 00:38:33.360 - fund nine one four three dash zero zero zero zero jdai coordination the create uh creation of new 00:38:33.360 --> 00:38:38.720 - account lines as outlined on the agenda and to simultaneously approve additional appropriations 00:38:38.720 --> 00:38:43.360 - of five thousand one hundred fifty dollars in the supplies category and nine thousand eight 00:38:43.360 --> 00:38:48.480 - hundred fifty dollars in the services category for a total appropriation of fifteen thousand 00:38:48.480 --> 00:38:48.880 - dollars 00:38:48.880 --> 00:38:55.920 - second thank you and now we have mr anthony williams here to give his presentation welcome 00:38:56.000 --> 00:39:03.680 - thank you thank you back for our annual grant from the doc for our jdi or juvenile detention 00:39:03.680 --> 00:39:10.480 - alternatives initiative so one of three grants that we received this one in particular is going 00:39:10.480 --> 00:39:17.600 - to focus on office supplies licensing for our computer systems every juvenile that we have 00:39:17.600 --> 00:39:23.060 - contact with gets a survey sent afterwards to them where they can provide feedback that allows us 00:39:23.060 --> 00:39:23.280 - to 00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:27.760 - work with iu on that um and then just committee and work group meetings for this one 00:39:27.760 --> 00:39:35.920 - thank you and looking over here to my left to see if anybody has any questions for mr williams 00:39:35.920 --> 00:39:44.240 - no looking all right anybody uh just big thank you for taking time to talk with me today i 00:39:44.240 --> 00:39:53.120 - appreciate it very much absolutely thank you all right um i guess i did have one quick question 00:39:53.120 --> 00:40:00.880 - so i know this is for 25 26 um is there any word that fund and beyond after this will continue to 00:40:00.880 --> 00:40:09.200 - get cut a word at this point okay fingers crossed that will not happen okay thank you very much for 00:40:09.200 --> 00:40:16.000 - that um and congratulations anybody that has public comment on this item you can come forward to 00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:16.080 - the 00:40:16.080 --> 00:40:24.320 - lectern here in the natu hillbroom or raise your hand via teams and seeing none may we please have 00:40:24.320 --> 00:40:33.840 - a roll call vote counselor crossley yes counselor iverson yes counselor henry yes counselor hawk 00:40:33.840 --> 00:40:41.280 - yes counselor wilts yes counselor fiddle yes counselor decker motion passes unanimous 00:40:42.480 --> 00:40:48.640 - and we will go to item e council i move to approve the probation department's request and fund nine 00:40:48.640 --> 00:40:54.960 - one four five dash zero zero zero zero jdai programming the creation of new account lines 00:40:54.960 --> 00:41:00.000 - is outlined on the agenda and to simultaneously approve additional appropriations of eighteen 00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.240 - thousand eight hundred forty dollars in the supplies category and thirty one thousand one 00:41:04.240 --> 00:41:09.760 - hundred sixty dollars in the services category for a total appropriation of fifty thousand dollars 00:41:10.320 --> 00:41:16.160 - second all right and same thing here but this is where the bulk of our community work comes in 00:41:16.160 --> 00:41:23.200 - you'll see that we have partnerships with uh pals the parent project uh through family solutions 00:41:23.200 --> 00:41:30.800 - our truancy termination program at ysb and the warehouse um as well so a lot of great 00:41:30.800 --> 00:41:37.920 - work that we're doing in the community with these grant dollars very good thank you um yes 00:41:37.920 --> 00:41:38.400 - counselor 00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:46.480 - hawk yes uh regarding the the money for pals and do you know how that's going to work out now that 00:41:46.480 --> 00:41:54.160 - they've uh don't have a great answer at this point i think it's kind of a wait and see as to how 00:41:54.160 --> 00:41:54.400 - they 00:41:54.400 --> 00:42:00.050 - repair um and we might have to make some adjustments to the mou and how that hopefully we'll be 00:42:00.050 --> 00:42:00.400 - able to 00:42:00.400 --> 00:42:06.400 - go on carry forward at some point during the year so the public will know what we're talking about 00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:12.950 - you want to describe what pals is yeah so it's the people and animals learning services i had to 00:42:12.950 --> 00:42:13.120 - look 00:42:13.120 --> 00:42:19.680 - down to make sure i get the acronym right but we um send youth involved uh individuals and non-youth 00:42:19.680 --> 00:42:25.440 - involved individuals um to their programming and they provide services to any of the referrals 00:42:25.440 --> 00:42:31.200 - that we make um to kind of help youth some families that are struggling um at home 00:42:35.280 --> 00:42:44.320 - okay anybody over here to my left got any questions council welch um you've got three 00:42:44.320 --> 00:42:51.920 - agenda items here so on one of these i just have to say that um it's a pleasure to see this type 00:42:51.920 --> 00:42:59.600 - of funding continue and i really um appreciate all the work that you're doing um in not only 00:42:59.600 --> 00:43:00.000 - getting 00:43:00.640 --> 00:43:07.280 - the money and continuing that um funding into our county and doing such good work but also the 00:43:07.280 --> 00:43:13.760 - reporting that i know that goes along with it it's a lot and it's important and i noticed that you 00:43:13.760 --> 00:43:21.520 - shared an annual report of all kinds of things um so we have our reading here um for the next 00:43:21.520 --> 00:43:28.160 - few days anyway it looks like but i just wanted to say thanks and and let you know that we do 00:43:28.160 --> 00:43:33.200 - appreciate it thank you as many of you probably already know christine mcafee she does all the 00:43:33.200 --> 00:43:42.240 - work behind this i'm just the face up here today i did have a quick question so in the spirit of 00:43:42.240 --> 00:43:47.760 - collaboration and being the the cats tv nerd that i am i like to watch other government meetings 00:43:47.760 --> 00:43:56.160 - um and i noticed um one of the city commissions had said that they partnered with um you all and 00:43:56.160 --> 00:44:01.680 - were supported by the jdai grants but i was actually surprised to hear them say that that 00:44:01.680 --> 00:44:09.920 - was no longer a thing do you know anything about that i don't i know that we've had partnerships 00:44:09.920 --> 00:44:15.600 - but i can't speak as to why they're not a part of it this time that would be a question for 00:44:15.600 --> 00:44:21.440 - christine okay but i can try and get you an answer okay i appreciate that thank you all right 00:44:23.040 --> 00:44:29.520 - seeing no other questions or comments from mr williams i will ask if there are any um public 00:44:29.520 --> 00:44:34.400 - comment that would like to make public comment on this item please come forward to the lectern here 00:44:34.400 --> 00:44:37.680 - in the night you hill room or you can raise your hand via teams 00:44:37.680 --> 00:44:44.560 - oh and i see a hand raised via teams 00:44:44.560 --> 00:44:48.880 - and it looks like it's from miss linda brady 00:44:48.880 --> 00:44:56.240 - um we can't hear you 00:44:56.240 --> 00:45:09.600 - uh almost 00:45:09.600 --> 00:45:18.480 - oh no it's it sounds like we can hear you because the caption is picking it up but it's very faint 00:45:18.960 --> 00:45:19.840 - maybe try again 00:45:19.840 --> 00:45:27.840 - it's still a little wonky on our end 00:45:27.840 --> 00:45:47.040 - miss brady we still can't hear you tst is there anything we can do to help miss brady on her end 00:45:47.040 --> 00:46:01.680 - i actually just want to be a cheering section for her team yeah i wanted to give her an 00:46:01.680 --> 00:46:08.960 - opportunity to do that so okay all right well we will move on i see fingers waving and hands 00:46:08.960 --> 00:46:16.480 - waving so i'm going to take that as a good hurrah that's the new emoji um she's the live emoji for 00:46:16.480 --> 00:46:24.880 - her team so we appreciate that all right with all the spirits that we have here michelle can we 00:46:24.880 --> 00:46:25.280 - please 00:46:25.280 --> 00:46:36.000 - have a roll call vote counselor hawk yes counselor dekert yes counselor crossley yes counselor fiddle 00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:45.200 - yes counselor wilts yes counselor henry yes counselor iverson yes and passes unanimous great 00:46:45.760 --> 00:46:51.760 - and again we got one more item with the probation department which is item f council i move to 00:46:51.760 --> 00:46:57.520 - approve the probation department's request and fund nine one seven six dash zero zero zero zero 00:46:57.520 --> 00:47:04.080 - jdai data analysis the creation of account line three zero zero zero six contractual 00:47:04.080 --> 00:47:08.720 - and simultaneously approve an additional appropriation of ten thousand dollars 00:47:08.720 --> 00:47:14.320 - in the services category second all right mr williams anything to add here 00:47:14.320 --> 00:47:19.520 - no counselor or i guess yes counselor wilts commented about our annual report 00:47:19.520 --> 00:47:24.480 - for those that didn't get a copy that's always on our website for access but these ten thousand 00:47:24.480 --> 00:47:31.360 - dollars directly go to help in that data analysis of that annual report to give you the data that 00:47:31.360 --> 00:47:31.600 - we 00:47:31.600 --> 00:47:39.120 - do thank you for that explanation seeing looking over here to my right to see if anybody has any 00:47:39.120 --> 00:47:46.880 - other questions or comments and seeing none and looking to my left and seeing none all right if 00:47:46.880 --> 00:47:51.040 - you public have anything to say about this particular item again you can come forward 00:47:51.040 --> 00:47:54.080 - to the lectern here in the night you hillbill room or raise your hand via teams 00:47:54.080 --> 00:48:06.240 - seeing none may we please have a roll call vote counselor fiddle yes counselor iverson yes 00:48:06.240 --> 00:48:13.200 - counselor henry yes counselor deckard yes counselor wilts yes counselor hawke 00:48:13.200 --> 00:48:20.080 - yes counselor crossley yes motion passes unanimous thank you thank you miss james we appreciate it 00:48:20.080 --> 00:48:30.240 - absolutely all right since item 8g again was tabled indefinitely um we will move on to the 00:48:30.240 --> 00:48:36.640 - courts uh item h council i move to approve the court's request and fund four zero one eight dash 00:48:36.640 --> 00:48:43.280 - zero zero zero zero court interpreters the creation of account line three three dash excuse me 00:48:43.280 --> 00:48:43.520 - three 00:48:43.520 --> 00:48:49.280 - three zero five two certified interpreters and simultaneously approve an additional appropriation 00:48:49.280 --> 00:48:55.120 - of six thousand five hundred dollars in this services category second all right we got a 00:48:55.120 --> 00:49:00.960 - motion in a second i see miss lisa abraham is here welcome um every year i get a court 00:49:00.960 --> 00:49:07.680 - interpreter grant and our time frame now goes july 1st to june 30th i received last year and 00:49:07.680 --> 00:49:12.000 - came before you to appropriate a ten thousand dollar grant unfortunately that only lasted me 00:49:12.000 --> 00:49:18.270 - three months so i have to wait till three quarters of that time is done so once april i very 00:49:18.270 --> 00:49:18.560 - quickly 00:49:18.560 --> 00:49:23.600 - i think on day one applied for an emergency grant they approved me for an additional six thousand 00:49:23.600 --> 00:49:27.440 - five hundred dollars which is for basically for may and june and then i'm waiting to find 00:49:27.440 --> 00:49:37.040 - yeah you have to keep turning okay so i'm here tonight for the six thousand five hundred dollars 00:49:37.040 --> 00:49:41.280 - to appropriate and i have an invoice ready to be submitted for half of that just for the month of 00:49:41.280 --> 00:49:49.440 - may okay thank you um i'll ask a quick question since you just mentioned it and then i'll look to 00:49:49.440 --> 00:49:55.840 - council colleagues here do you know when you will know if you'll be awarded they usually give it to 00:49:55.840 --> 00:50:01.920 - me about the middle of june because it goes into effect july 1st so and i applied for that one on 00:50:01.920 --> 00:50:09.360 - the first day it became available so i'm impatiently waiting fingers crossed hopefully mid-june you'll 00:50:09.360 --> 00:50:16.320 - have some good news for us should be back before you hopefully in july yeah appreciate that yes 00:50:16.320 --> 00:50:25.920 - counselor hawk yes the grant normally comes from the state yes and is that a part of the money they 00:50:25.920 --> 00:50:31.120 - get from the feds or you don't know i don't think it has anything to do with the feds but who knows 00:50:31.120 --> 00:50:34.720 - what if they're going to cut that drastically but they still allowed us to apply for it this 00:50:34.720 --> 00:50:39.120 - next time so right i don't know what's going to happen there yeah last year i asked for i think 00:50:39.120 --> 00:50:45.520 - 25 000 and i got 10 this year because of how much i've spent i've asked for about 45 000 so i have 00:50:45.520 --> 00:50:50.560 - three jury trials coming up and each one will be about eight thousand dollars for just interpreter 00:50:50.560 --> 00:50:58.640 - bills so i am that and see if you need an additional along the way at what you've had to do right 00:50:58.640 --> 00:51:06.880 - exactly so i did on day one so all right any other colleagues over here that have any questions or 00:51:06.880 --> 00:51:16.320 - comments from miss abraham okay look to my left anybody all right uh again we will go to the public 00:51:16.320 --> 00:51:21.840 - for this particular item any comments to be made on this please come forward to the lectern here 00:51:21.840 --> 00:51:33.280 - in the night you hill room or you can raise your hand via teams all right and seeing none maybe 00:51:33.280 --> 00:51:42.880 - please have a roll call vote councillor fiddle yes councillor henry yes councillor dekert yes 00:51:42.880 --> 00:51:49.440 - councillor iverson yes councillor wilts yes councillor crossley yes councillor hawk 00:51:49.440 --> 00:51:58.720 - yes motion passes unanimous thank you all right um and just a point of clarification i think that 00:51:58.720 --> 00:52:03.840 - mr dekert has something to say um go ahead thank you madam president i just wanted to really 00:52:03.840 --> 00:52:09.040 - quickly point of uh clarification for council linda brady i had a chance to reach out to her 00:52:09.040 --> 00:52:15.360 - briefly and she simply wanted to thank christine mcafee who does all that hard work on that jdai 00:52:15.360 --> 00:52:22.160 - efforts so joyfully if anyone's ever sat through a presentation she wanted to thank her for that so 00:52:22.160 --> 00:52:25.760 - thanks christine mcafee on behalf of linda brady and of course all of us 00:52:26.720 --> 00:52:36.560 - thank you for that clarification all right next we will move on to county council business um and 00:52:36.560 --> 00:52:42.640 - that is item a looks like we have some unfinished business from two weeks ago that we need to clear 00:52:42.640 --> 00:52:50.160 - up council as a reminder this is the second reading of ordinance 2025-14 due to the lack of a 00:52:50.160 --> 00:52:57.920 - unanimous vote at the may 13th council meeting i move to approve ordinance 2025-14 readopting 00:52:57.920 --> 00:53:04.800 - procedures for awarding community service grants second all right we got a motion and a second 00:53:04.800 --> 00:53:13.440 - and i'm gonna look over to miss molly turner king for her insight so i wasn't going to display the 00:53:13.440 --> 00:53:19.360 - ordinance unless you would like me to but um this ordinance was presented to sophia travis um we 00:53:19.360 --> 00:53:25.120 - talked through it actually this ordinance was not presented sophia travis we talked at the sophia 00:53:25.120 --> 00:53:30.800 - travis meeting about what they would like to see as criteria for a citizen appointment and it also 00:53:30.800 --> 00:53:43.600 - adds um how the appointment process would occur okay anybody have any questions or comments related 00:53:43.600 --> 00:53:51.690 - to this item and i'm looking over here to my left no quiet tonight all right uh looking over here 00:53:51.690 --> 00:53:51.840 - to 00:53:51.840 --> 00:53:58.800 - my right counselor hawk yes uh while i appreciate that this is a very important thing to many 00:53:58.800 --> 00:53:59.200 - people 00:53:59.200 --> 00:54:08.190 - in the community uh something that once happened without all of the staff time we seem to have 00:54:08.190 --> 00:54:08.320 - tried 00:54:08.320 --> 00:54:14.880 - to make a book out of trying to figure out how to make it harder to get through this and i don't 00:54:14.880 --> 00:54:22.720 - think it should be this difficult but if you all like all these rules go for it i guess my question 00:54:22.720 --> 00:54:29.920 - you would be because i'm confused as to why you mentioned a book um can you clarify what you mean 00:54:29.920 --> 00:54:35.760 - by that right i sure can thanks you know in the past this used to be done actually in the 00:54:35.760 --> 00:54:42.000 - commissioner's office yours keesling did most of it and it was just boom and we all looked at it we 00:54:42.000 --> 00:54:48.560 - said yes or no and now it's like set up and with meetings after meetings and staff time and staff 00:54:48.560 --> 00:54:53.200 - time and more staff time and it's right in the middle of budget session and it's like well they 00:54:53.200 --> 00:54:57.200 - couldn't get the budget stuff down because they were spending all this time on the sofia travis 00:54:57.200 --> 00:55:04.400 - grant things and so i think it should be easier for the public to apply and easier for this council 00:55:04.400 --> 00:55:12.480 - to make a decision and just not drag this on forever i mean it is but like i said if you all 00:55:12.480 --> 00:55:18.960 - feel better about a zillion rules for it go for it but i just think it should be easier to do 00:55:18.960 --> 00:55:27.520 - okay um and as a point of clarification um it is i would think that it is easier for us to do 00:55:27.520 --> 00:55:28.080 - because 00:55:28.080 --> 00:55:33.600 - we a have not ever been in the history in my four years and maybe i'm a novice but i've only been 00:55:33.600 --> 00:55:43.440 - here for four years um the idea of this is a history that we've had 11 people to apply to being 00:55:43.440 --> 00:55:55.200 - on a really good social service committee uh to to do this work and so i think we on sofia travis 00:55:55.200 --> 00:56:02.720 - myself mr decker and miss vital are trying to make sure that we are doing things and a more 00:56:02.720 --> 00:56:08.800 - transformative and uh transparency kind of matter because again we've not had this not trying to 00:56:08.800 --> 00:56:09.120 - add 00:56:09.120 --> 00:56:14.080 - on anything and of course in our sofia travis meetings if you watch those and you can go back 00:56:14.080 --> 00:56:20.080 - and watch those via cats um and look at our notes we are trying to make sure that we're doing this 00:56:20.080 --> 00:56:25.360 - in all ways possible and it doesn't seem to take up the time of council staff at least i don't want 00:56:25.360 --> 00:56:30.000 - to put the words in the mouth of council staff um and i'm sure like as chair of that committee 00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:35.680 - we make sure and i definitely make sure that we are not spending extra time on that and they will 00:56:35.680 --> 00:56:41.680 - definitely tell us if we are um so again i definitely with everything happening at the 00:56:41.680 --> 00:56:46.560 - state house and how everybody is having to shake up things and spend extra time looking at things 00:56:46.560 --> 00:56:54.240 - um i think this is a time where this is okay so that's all i got to say on that um the other 00:56:54.240 --> 00:57:01.600 - aspect to this is at the last particular meeting that we had on this since this was an item that 00:57:01.600 --> 00:57:08.960 - didn't get unanimous consent and that's why it's back again um we talked about having a committee 00:57:08.960 --> 00:57:15.680 - to interview because there are lots of people that are um have applied again and need to be 00:57:15.680 --> 00:57:21.440 - interviewed so i think from my understanding at the last meeting miss turner king can you 00:57:21.440 --> 00:57:27.360 - refresh our brain and of what we did there that was many moments ago it feels like 00:57:27.360 --> 00:57:39.440 - so if the ordinance passes it calls for um three volunteers to conduct the interviews 00:57:39.440 --> 00:57:44.320 - so it's not a formal committee but it would be three volunteers so if the ordinance passes then 00:57:44.320 --> 00:57:51.520 - the president would request three volunteers to begin um the interviewing process of the 11 00:57:51.520 --> 00:57:55.040 - maybe 10 applicants i think one person might have withdrew her application 00:57:55.040 --> 00:58:02.640 - yeah i do recall seeing that okay and so i also believe that you councilor iverson that said that 00:58:02.640 --> 00:58:08.560 - you volunteered yourself to the tribune for this i feel like i readily volunteered myself 00:58:09.360 --> 00:58:16.560 - appreciate that and then i think our other two sofia travis grant committee people are 00:58:16.560 --> 00:58:26.080 - people uh members uh councilor decker and vital are you all still good to go with doing this 00:58:26.080 --> 00:58:33.200 - good to go okay again once we are done with this we can move on and appoint and do the business 00:58:33.200 --> 00:58:42.320 - of sophia travis and and go forth and do good work in the county councilor wilts um i just the 00:58:42.320 --> 00:58:50.320 - way i read this it means that every person who submits an application will get an interview is 00:58:50.320 --> 00:59:01.520 - that correct um there is no language in here that specifies whether all applicants would be 00:59:01.520 --> 00:59:09.680 - interviewed or if the three volunteers would um select a number of applicants to volunteer or to 00:59:09.680 --> 00:59:14.720 - interview um the only language is that the president of the county council will select 00:59:14.720 --> 00:59:16.960 - three volunteers to conduct the interviews 00:59:16.960 --> 00:59:24.640 - so who decides who gets interviewed 00:59:28.000 --> 00:59:37.360 - that would be right now it just says conduct interviews um if you'd like to add language 00:59:37.360 --> 00:59:42.080 - to allow the volunteers to select who gets interviewed or if all volunteers 00:59:42.080 --> 00:59:45.520 - or if all applicants are going to be interviewed i can add that language 00:59:45.520 --> 00:59:57.440 - wilson other people if you have any questions i got some hands raised over here 00:59:57.440 --> 01:00:02.240 - um i'll go to councillor iverson and then um councillor henry next i want to note that per 01:00:02.240 --> 01:00:09.840 - council rules the time has now gone to zero so i want to encourage us to be uh as short as possible 01:00:09.840 --> 01:00:15.200 - in the remainder of the conversation or i think that we'll be introducing another tabling vote 01:00:15.200 --> 01:00:21.280 - okay and i would not be interested in table in this because we got some work to do so um councillor 01:00:21.280 --> 01:00:28.000 - henry uh thank you madam president um i'm overall i'm supportive of what we've done here i think 01:00:28.000 --> 01:00:28.320 - that 01:00:28.320 --> 01:00:32.800 - um as i as i survey other boards and commissions in the county and how people find their way to 01:00:32.800 --> 01:00:40.400 - them in terms of appointments is opaque um and this is while um seven pages uh thorough and a 01:00:40.400 --> 01:00:47.040 - good starting block for us to to funnel into you know how we um uh add members of the community to 01:00:47.040 --> 01:00:52.240 - this uh board i will say i i am a little lost in how we did the appointment process last week i 01:00:52.240 --> 01:00:56.240 - think my name was evoked last week as one of the interviewees but i'm totally fine with passing 01:00:56.240 --> 01:01:02.480 - that back to um the the other council members there um as we're sorting through that my only 01:01:02.480 --> 01:01:08.080 - question is uh one that i i thought that um maybe councillor wilson i shared about the the document 01:01:08.080 --> 01:01:14.480 - about um assuring or reviewing uh for the diversity of the board i think it's not lost on us in the 01:01:14.480 --> 01:01:20.960 - county that um the overall diversity of our boards and commissions um is is not as um robust to say 01:01:20.960 --> 01:01:25.920 - in the city limits when we compare our partners in the city limits or boards and commissions and so 01:01:25.920 --> 01:01:30.240 - i know miss turner king you had mentioned some reticence when we talked about last week have 01:01:30.240 --> 01:01:34.560 - you found anything in the past two weeks to add that would allow us to put language in here to 01:01:34.560 --> 01:01:38.320 - encourage the committee to appoint folks from our diversity of backgrounds 01:01:41.840 --> 01:01:46.640 - i still have legal pause i guess on adding any diversity language but i guess that pause is 01:01:46.640 --> 01:01:51.600 - somewhat fact dependent on what language you specifically want to add if it's just an 01:01:51.600 --> 01:01:59.360 - encouragement to the apple the individuals conducting the interviews to consider diversity 01:01:59.360 --> 01:02:06.400 - factors i think that's fine but if you want to get into defining what factors what what diversity 01:02:06.400 --> 01:02:11.120 - looks like on this committee that's where i began to have pause because i think one it's going to 01:02:11.120 --> 01:02:16.160 - limit your applicant pool what if we have only one applicant and they don't meet the diversity 01:02:16.160 --> 01:02:23.440 - requirements um and then i think they're once we get into defining like you have to be within this 01:02:23.440 --> 01:02:30.240 - age or this gender or race that's where i seriously pull back on a legal pause i'll just say i'll 01:02:30.240 --> 01:02:37.440 - defer my other colleagues uh that had a question about this that um while i'm sure that that some 01:02:37.440 --> 01:02:41.920 - may feel the zeitgeist has changed on encouraging diversity equity inclusion in our boards and 01:02:41.920 --> 01:02:45.840 - commissions outside of this county i don't think that's a line that we've crossed here in minero 01:02:45.840 --> 01:02:51.200 - county anyway um and so to the extent that we can encourage that in the in the resolution i'm 01:02:51.200 --> 01:02:54.720 - for it i just don't have those words tonight but i would defer to my colleagues that might have 01:02:54.720 --> 01:03:01.410 - some different ideas about it um thank you madam president thank you looking over here as we wrap 01:03:01.410 --> 01:03:01.520 - up 01:03:01.520 --> 01:03:08.320 - the conversation counselor decker i don't have a comment on that other than to say um i think 01:03:08.320 --> 01:03:18.400 - if i remember recall the list of applicants that had come in uh i did see uh a breath of uh 01:03:18.400 --> 01:03:24.800 - different life experiences here in the community and certainly if i were an interviewer i'm looking 01:03:24.800 --> 01:03:31.120 - at that in addition to the qualifications that uh have been listed in this resolution i did want 01:03:31.120 --> 01:03:36.560 - to say really quickly i think it's very important for us to adopt this resolution because many of 01:03:36.560 --> 01:03:43.840 - these recommendations came from discussions with current citizen appointees as part of that 01:03:43.840 --> 01:03:49.120 - discussion and i think tonight we saw a really good example of another commission of the women's 01:03:49.120 --> 01:03:55.520 - commission appointee coming in to offer expertise and thoughts on a procedure that the county is 01:03:55.520 --> 01:04:01.120 - undergoing with our judicial and justice center and that is precisely the kind of thing that you 01:04:01.120 --> 01:04:07.280 - want to see happening in a community like this um i think that the fact that we have so many 01:04:07.280 --> 01:04:12.960 - applicants for this current year also is a healthy sign and that we're turning the course these 01:04:12.960 --> 01:04:19.200 - boards and commissions can't just be things that people run on and then we forget about that they 01:04:19.200 --> 01:04:24.160 - have to be things that have true citizen input like what you saw up at the podium like what you're 01:04:24.160 --> 01:04:27.920 - seeing with this resolution etc and i think that we're starting to get there 01:04:27.920 --> 01:04:36.640 - thank you councillor wilt would you like to share your thoughts i think that um 01:04:36.640 --> 01:04:42.160 - i'll be very quick because i know we're over time i i'm probably not going to support this just 01:04:42.160 --> 01:04:48.640 - because it doesn't address the concerns that were expressed at the last meeting and by me 01:04:50.240 --> 01:05:00.080 - and um i think it if we're going to put something together um it should try to reflect the um the 01:05:00.080 --> 01:05:11.360 - need for you know considering diverse points of view and um you know that's it i understand 01:05:11.360 --> 01:05:17.680 - where you're coming from um i guess the only thing i'll say as we wrap up on this particular item 01:05:17.680 --> 01:05:18.240 - here 01:05:18.240 --> 01:05:28.480 - is um in terms of if people are going i would just say as council president and as chair of the 01:05:28.480 --> 01:05:28.880 - count 01:05:28.880 --> 01:05:36.560 - or of the sofia travis grant committee if we can um do interviews for folks and i would assume that 01:05:36.560 --> 01:05:41.760 - that would be up to the interview committee to figure out if you know it's in order if they 01:05:41.760 --> 01:05:48.480 - people can do it in a hybrid approach where people could come either in person or um virtually to 01:05:48.480 --> 01:05:53.840 - make sure because if folks have taken the time to fill out an application i just want to make sure 01:05:53.840 --> 01:05:59.200 - that we are taking the time to interview and look at those qualifications and not saying that those 01:05:59.200 --> 01:06:05.840 - interviews have to do or be a long time i myself and my other day job do this on a regular basis 01:06:06.480 --> 01:06:11.760 - and i know it can be done in a three-person committee with a lot of applicants so it can 01:06:11.760 --> 01:06:19.200 - be done so i just i thank those that are volunteering to the tribune to help with this 01:06:19.200 --> 01:06:25.760 - but that would just be my only word of advice to my colleagues here and also to take into 01:06:25.760 --> 01:06:32.560 - consideration the different viewpoints that we have because there is a vast majority of people 01:06:32.560 --> 01:06:43.120 - that are highly qualified to do this so yeah so i'm good on that all right so if anybody has any 01:06:43.120 --> 01:06:49.040 - public comment on this particular item you can raise your hand via teams or you can come forward 01:06:49.040 --> 01:06:58.640 - to the natu hill broom here at the lectern here and seeing no movement in the room and looking 01:07:00.000 --> 01:07:05.200 - at teams and not seeing any hands raised um may we please have a roll call vote 01:07:05.200 --> 01:07:12.720 - counselor iverson yes counselor fiddle yes counselor hawke no 01:07:14.240 --> 01:07:27.520 - counselor will now counselor henry counselor crossley yes counselor dekler yes motion passes 01:07:27.520 --> 01:07:38.480 - majority five to two thank you very much um now we will move on to another item that was tabled 01:07:38.480 --> 01:07:44.560 - regarding the ksa conversation which is item b council as a reminder this item was tabled from 01:07:44.560 --> 01:07:51.920 - the may 13th council meeting so i today move to approve resolution 2025-24 regarding a pause of 01:07:51.920 --> 01:08:00.000 - the knowledge skills and abilities procedures okay we got a second and i'm gonna look at the 01:08:00.000 --> 01:08:06.000 - dream team table over here um michelle and miss molly turner king would you like to add anything 01:08:06.000 --> 01:08:14.480 - to this conversation um all i will add is as a reminder this resolution um ultimately if passed 01:08:14.480 --> 01:08:19.600 - will temporarily suspend the knowledge skills and abilities practice or policy so that department 01:08:19.600 --> 01:08:24.960 - heads can may no longer submit for consideration a request to hire applicants at the three or eight 01:08:24.960 --> 01:08:31.920 - year level um salary level um it will make it so that any applicant hired is going to be hired at 01:08:31.920 --> 01:08:40.960 - the minimum base salary as identified in the salary ordinance okay and i know we had a lot of 01:08:40.960 --> 01:08:47.600 - conversation um about this and we got some items that were sent to us um via staff so i'm going to 01:08:47.600 --> 01:08:56.080 - look over here to my left to see if anybody has any questions or comments looking over here to my 01:08:56.080 --> 01:09:03.920 - right counsel iverson i remain in favor of this resolution uh i think that this is something that 01:09:03.920 --> 01:09:10.640 - we've discussed at length uh to signal to our colleagues and partners in county government 01:09:10.640 --> 01:09:17.520 - that we are facing incredibly strong fiscal headwinds and that we are taking this very 01:09:17.520 --> 01:09:25.200 - seriously i also think that this resolution is uh written in such a way that uh the temporary 01:09:25.200 --> 01:09:30.560 - nature of it uh signals that we will get through this and that we're going to get through this 01:09:30.560 --> 01:09:36.160 - together uh and uh that's those for those two reasons uh i am in support of this resolution 01:09:36.160 --> 01:09:45.280 - okay councilor henry i think councilor hawk had her hand up both of you raised it up at the same 01:09:45.280 --> 01:09:45.520 - time 01:09:45.520 --> 01:09:50.960 - all right i'm sorry oh no we're just going to my tunnel vision today um i guess my only follow-up 01:09:50.960 --> 01:09:54.330 - question from commentary last week is we we had some discussion back and forth about some 01:09:54.330 --> 01:09:54.720 - additional 01:09:55.200 --> 01:10:01.520 - column or data about um some of the uh specifically some of the ksa positions that um 01:10:01.520 --> 01:10:07.840 - if people had come in at a higher level and then had left county service and i i'm sorry 01:10:07.840 --> 01:10:11.520 - they're just all escaping me right now but mr king you had my questions from last week 01:10:11.520 --> 01:10:25.120 - did you have additional data points to share on this from our due outs from the last meeting 01:10:25.120 --> 01:10:33.840 - i've requested michelle to share data that um our employee services put together and i think all 01:10:33.840 --> 01:10:39.920 - council members um received in advance of tonight's meeting and i think that might address your 01:10:39.920 --> 01:10:44.400 - questions um we'll check for it given we had a tornado between the meeting and last time but 01:10:44.400 --> 01:10:48.480 - yeah i'm not blaming the tornado but i may have missed it right let me take a look thanks 01:10:48.480 --> 01:11:04.000 - okay councillor hawk i know you had your hand up would you like to add to the discussion 01:11:04.000 --> 01:11:11.280 - well i just wanted to reiterate uh something that you know we're paying for for financial advice 01:11:11.280 --> 01:11:21.200 - and his his advice was to put things on pause and so that's why i support let's pause this and see 01:11:21.200 --> 01:11:26.560 - where we're going to be because we still don't know what our projected revenue is going to be 01:11:26.560 --> 01:11:37.760 - for next year so okay councillor wilts by that by that logic would 01:11:37.760 --> 01:11:45.120 - it seems as though we would consider a hiring freeze entirely but we're not doing that right 01:11:48.480 --> 01:12:00.240 - correct councillor henry yeah thank you um michelle are you able to put the the excel up the of the 01:12:00.240 --> 01:12:05.390 - the excel that has the extra data on it on that's the ksa employment data just so we can take a 01:12:05.390 --> 01:12:05.520 - look 01:12:05.520 --> 01:12:11.600 - at that and while that's coming up i agree with um you know the sentiments of councillor hawk and 01:12:11.600 --> 01:12:15.520 - councillor iverson that that you know i'm in favor of the resolution i just think that having the 01:12:15.520 --> 01:12:15.760 - data 01:12:15.760 --> 01:12:23.280 - and the public eye here will help to make that case clear for folks um as i'm looking at that top 01:12:23.280 --> 01:12:26.080 - where the hires per year i think that tab 01:12:26.080 --> 01:12:36.240 - yeah there's per year okay maybe i have a different if you scroll down to the employment data is a 01:12:36.240 --> 01:12:43.040 - 5 20 to 20 25 that one yeah so like we're on pace right now we're um 2025 the number of ksa's 01:12:43.040 --> 01:12:48.240 - percentage of hires is 38 i mean this will definitely throttle um where we are for the 01:12:48.240 --> 01:12:52.960 - remainder of the year it seems like there there seems to be a trend line here of um 01:12:52.960 --> 01:13:00.240 - quite a few ksa hires um in this year versus previous um i think it's just worth taking a 01:13:00.240 --> 01:13:09.440 - look at there as we're um taking a vote but thank you madam president okay anybody else have 01:13:09.440 --> 01:13:10.080 - anything 01:13:10.080 --> 01:13:17.520 - else to add to this discussion regarding ksa's michelle miss turner king would you like to add 01:13:17.520 --> 01:13:26.240 - anything okay consular decker i i've remained still a little skeptical that this is the fruit that 01:13:26.240 --> 01:13:34.720 - we're looking for in in our dilemma and i also worry a little bit i appreciate this data very 01:13:34.720 --> 01:13:42.720 - much i also worry a little bit that a high number on that 38 percent is indicative of a high need 01:13:42.720 --> 01:13:49.440 - and i always go back through the history and context that come from past service but i can 01:13:49.440 --> 01:13:55.200 - remember a time during the pandemic when we struggled mightily around retention the word 01:13:55.200 --> 01:14:00.000 - retention bonus was literally a thing that came out of this council we were in here and they were 01:14:00.000 --> 01:14:03.840 - trying to take down the tree i think for the year and we were still trying to figure out how to 01:14:03.840 --> 01:14:04.080 - keep 01:14:04.080 --> 01:14:13.200 - employees and i i i don't know anything solidly but i worry just a little bit that that we may 01:14:13.200 --> 01:14:17.920 - not get the fruit that we need and we may start cutting as we used to say when i was a kid we're 01:14:17.920 --> 01:14:24.960 - cutting the fingernails to the quick around the wrong area to cut so i i appreciate the sentiment 01:14:24.960 --> 01:14:31.440 - of trying to figure it out i'm just not sure i'm a yes on this one okay 01:14:31.440 --> 01:14:40.080 - okay anybody else have any last comments regarding this item so just to ask a question then for 01:14:40.080 --> 01:14:47.040 - councilman dekard would you be then in favor of keeping the ksa so that people could get higher 01:14:47.040 --> 01:14:53.520 - hiring in higher wages i'm bringing in what are you saying well what i'm i'm saying is when i see 01:14:53.520 --> 01:15:00.240 - that number they're using it for a reason i mean we had how many do we have last time last meeting 01:15:01.120 --> 01:15:08.240 - three to four ksa's and i'm not saying that's indicative that of anything other than they're 01:15:08.240 --> 01:15:14.880 - using this to attract people i mean last literally in the last budget year what we heard from our 01:15:14.880 --> 01:15:19.440 - prosecutor and beth hamlin's here so correct me if i got it wrong shake your head vigorously 01:15:19.440 --> 01:15:24.960 - know if it's the case but she essentially said she can't get she can't hire an attorney to 01:15:24.960 --> 01:15:32.080 - prosecute the cases before the community uh the sheriff often is in here on various things saying 01:15:32.080 --> 01:15:40.800 - he's trying to find the the best deputy um i just i i worry i worry that this ksa is not going to 01:15:40.800 --> 01:15:47.760 - give us the budgetary fruit and it's going to hurt the hiring ability leverage that our department 01:15:47.760 --> 01:15:55.520 - heads have and we've spent so much time around that over the year since at least 2019 me sitting 01:15:55.520 --> 01:16:02.800 - here that i worry that this is not quite the the fruit i'll follow as councilor hawkoffin says i'll 01:16:02.800 --> 01:16:08.000 - follow the will of the council but i'm not i'm probably a no on this resolution although i 01:16:08.000 --> 01:16:14.080 - appreciate the sentiment sorry to go so long oh but it is temporary and have i got that right 01:16:15.200 --> 01:16:21.840 - this resolution is a temporary resolution yes so it could be brought back right so maybe there 01:16:21.840 --> 01:16:28.160 - might be value in thinking about um doing it and then if you have trouble then bring it back and 01:16:28.160 --> 01:16:38.000 - try to do something else or is there not value in that i would be in favor of again kind of going 01:16:38.000 --> 01:16:44.000 - back and and listening to a lot of different things and it looks like our council attorney had 01:16:44.000 --> 01:16:49.520 - her hand up i was just going to say that the resolution does automatically expire expired 01:16:49.520 --> 01:16:54.640 - um the end of december of 2025 unless amended prior to that date by the council 01:16:54.640 --> 01:17:02.160 - so basically what we're saying is if there is a vote today that expresses that we will pause ksa 01:17:02.160 --> 01:17:07.520 - the resolution is set just like other resolutions that we've done earlier this year 01:17:08.560 --> 01:17:15.360 - will set to expire at the end of this year unless we bring if we you know do this we pause it 01:17:15.360 --> 01:17:21.360 - and we find that departments are having issues with trying to hire people we can revive this 01:17:21.360 --> 01:17:29.200 - and bring this back you could either amend it to end it earlier you can extend it or just leave 01:17:29.200 --> 01:17:38.800 - it to sunset in 2025 okay councillor henry thank you madam president i i i appreciate 01:17:38.800 --> 01:17:43.520 - where this conversation is going because ultimately uh one variable here is if we um in a few weeks 01:17:43.520 --> 01:17:47.680 - once we start taking a look at the local income tax uh from the state and how we're going to be 01:17:47.680 --> 01:17:53.920 - able to use that or not in the next year that may give us the the strategic pause to get over uh to 01:17:53.920 --> 01:17:58.080 - say look you know based on forecasting we might actually be in better shape than what we thought 01:17:58.080 --> 01:18:03.680 - we were going to be in in january and so i don't i mean passing of this today does not in my mind 01:18:03.680 --> 01:18:07.280 - mean that it is the rest of the year it means that we're buying some time until we really 01:18:07.280 --> 01:18:12.960 - understand our our fiscal forecast which i know is going to require at least some uh adjustments 01:18:12.960 --> 01:18:17.360 - from the state house to fix anyway before we get into what we think the lip is going to provide us 01:18:17.360 --> 01:18:23.200 - locally so i'm okay with buying time and very okay with revisiting this resolution once we have 01:18:23.200 --> 01:18:23.440 - more 01:18:23.440 --> 01:18:28.880 - clarity so thank you madam president yeah thank you and the only thing that i would add to that 01:18:28.880 --> 01:18:33.680 - before we move on a public comment is the fact that again in the long-term finance committee 01:18:33.680 --> 01:18:41.680 - he did express the concern of us continuing on to do this again this isn't something that is set in 01:18:41.680 --> 01:18:47.520 - stone if that is the will of the council that we do this and this gets passed where we pause this 01:18:47.520 --> 01:18:54.000 - but if we again the state is leaving us no choice to figure out what we can do and we might do this 01:18:54.000 --> 01:19:00.880 - and we might say hey this isn't something that is working um and again as it was discussed we can 01:19:00.880 --> 01:19:06.720 - you know possibly bring this back for an amendment again we got to figure out stuff 01:19:06.720 --> 01:19:14.720 - because the state is basically leaving us alone um at this point so that's all i would say to that 01:19:14.720 --> 01:19:21.200 - so all right so i'm going to go to public comments so and we got a hand that is already 01:19:21.200 --> 01:19:27.840 - raised so again if you have a public comment on this particular item you can come forward to the 01:19:27.840 --> 01:19:33.520 - lectern here in the night you hill room or you can raise your hand via teams and since we already 01:19:33.520 --> 01:19:40.320 - have a hand raised via team and i see it is our prosecutor that has her hand up i'll have you 01:19:40.320 --> 01:19:48.800 - unmute and you can go ahead and speak thank you so much erica elephant prosecuting attorney um i 01:19:48.800 --> 01:19:48.960 - you 01:19:48.960 --> 01:19:54.960 - know i really appreciate the council um being good stewards of our public funds i don't envy the 01:19:54.960 --> 01:20:02.240 - positions that you're placed in right now um but i really would bc to to reconsider um getting 01:20:02.240 --> 01:20:07.680 - rid of the ksa i understand this is a pause i understand that you mean for it to be temporary 01:20:07.680 --> 01:20:15.040 - but this ability has allowed me to hire deputy prosecutors with experience they don't often need 01:20:15.040 --> 01:20:21.200 - to be trained in the law but they just have to be trained in the local culture and policies um you 01:20:21.200 --> 01:20:28.240 - know the person that you approved for me two weeks ago has already demonstrated an abundance of 01:20:28.240 --> 01:20:28.640 - skill 01:20:28.640 --> 01:20:35.920 - in trial with jury selection is already serving as a mentor to younger prosecutors in my office and 01:20:35.920 --> 01:20:41.890 - that's this is week three of that person's employment um this is not a dollar for dollar value i 01:20:41.890 --> 01:20:42.160 - mean i 01:20:42.160 --> 01:20:49.840 - just can't um i can't get by with paying people less than their worth and unfortunately i'm still 01:20:49.840 --> 01:20:55.680 - doing that even when i do get approved for ksas because state attorneys are paid much more than 01:20:55.680 --> 01:21:00.080 - county attorneys unfortunately and i understand that's just because they're in a different fiscal 01:21:00.080 --> 01:21:07.440 - position counsel's been really generous to me to hear me out um but it it's just so difficult 01:21:07.440 --> 01:21:14.080 - to prosecute a very complicated sex case very complicated drug case homicide crime of violence 01:21:14.080 --> 01:21:18.720 - anything like that um when you're straight out of law school and you've never seen the 01:21:18.720 --> 01:21:25.520 - inside of a courtroom and so um it really puts a huge burden on those of us who do have experience 01:21:25.520 --> 01:21:32.800 - when we have so many newer people trying to handle these caseloads um you know i've had a lot of 01:21:32.800 --> 01:21:39.600 - experienced attorneys apply in bulk at the entry level salary i just will you know we will have 01:21:39.600 --> 01:21:47.120 - less experienced folks working in the office if if we're stuck and i'm kind of panicking at the 01:21:47.120 --> 01:21:55.360 - moment because i have a deputy prosecutor leaving her last day is june 13th i've got to replace her 01:21:55.360 --> 01:22:02.400 - and i'm not gonna be able to offer a ksa it sounds like and um you know that person's in a very 01:22:02.400 --> 01:22:07.440 - important caseload the juvenile delinquency caseload that really works hard with the juvenile 01:22:07.440 --> 01:22:11.840 - detention alternatives initiative to make sure that we're using restorative justice and 01:22:11.840 --> 01:22:12.560 - alternatives 01:22:12.560 --> 01:22:17.920 - to juvenile incarceration and it just takes somebody who knows something about the system 01:22:17.920 --> 01:22:23.840 - and the and the law to really um do that effectively and to implement the sort of policy that i 01:22:23.840 --> 01:22:24.160 - think we 01:22:24.160 --> 01:22:32.080 - want to see in this county um and you know it's just going to take a lot more um supervision and 01:22:32.080 --> 01:22:38.720 - hand holding if i can't offer a higher salary to somebody with more experience but i appreciate 01:22:38.720 --> 01:22:43.200 - your time you listened to me a lot last week and i'm almost out of my public comment time so thank 01:22:43.200 --> 01:22:54.800 - you so much and good luck with the coming year i'm sorry thank you um anybody else that would like 01:22:54.800 --> 01:22:54.960 - to 01:22:54.960 --> 01:23:00.960 - make a public comment on this again you can raise your hand via teams or you can come to the lectern 01:23:00.960 --> 01:23:09.520 - here and then at uville room can i still speak or our time up here um i'll allow as long as we don't 01:23:09.520 --> 01:23:15.440 - have anybody else i will default to you and then we'll move on to a roll call vote i know erica 01:23:15.440 --> 01:23:21.040 - mentioned or the prosecutor mentioned that she's wanting to hire one it seems with that ability i 01:23:21.040 --> 01:23:26.200 - wondered if there was a way to get any clarification of any more needs that she thinks she might 01:23:26.200 --> 01:23:26.560 - have 01:23:26.560 --> 01:23:28.560 - upcoming 01:23:28.560 --> 01:23:39.440 - and i guess that other question um to council staff is do we have any more people in the pipeline 01:23:40.320 --> 01:23:44.080 - asking for ksa request no we do not 01:23:44.080 --> 01:23:48.640 - okay 01:23:48.640 --> 01:24:04.320 - right well now that we've heard all that we've heard and exhausted conversations regarding this 01:24:05.840 --> 01:24:10.880 - we got a hard decision to make so can we make uh can we please have a roll call vote 01:24:10.880 --> 01:24:20.640 - councillor iverson yes councillor crossley 01:24:23.520 --> 01:24:37.520 - yes councillor deckard no councillor fiddle yes councillor wilts no councillor hawke yes 01:24:37.520 --> 01:24:49.520 - councillor henry yes motion passes a majority five to seven or five to two sorry five to two 01:24:49.520 --> 01:25:01.040 - okay so that means that we are officially in a ksa pause unless we find it a need 01:25:01.040 --> 01:25:12.240 - for the council to bring it back for an amendment okay thank you all right um moving on to item c 01:25:13.440 --> 01:25:22.640 - this was uh this is the cola conversation that we tabled at our last meeting and this was a time 01:25:22.640 --> 01:25:22.960 - for 01:25:22.960 --> 01:25:30.090 - council staff to prepare the percentage versus the flat rate data that we all have been given in 01:25:30.090 --> 01:25:30.320 - front 01:25:30.320 --> 01:25:37.200 - of us uh today and so i'm going to pass it over to michelle to see if she would like to provide 01:25:37.920 --> 01:25:43.760 - uh a brief overview of what we have in front of us 01:26:13.760 --> 01:26:35.320 - packet, the fiscal impact estimates. Council approved for 2025, 41,155,881 in salaries. 01:26:35.320 --> 01:26:49.320 - If Council goes with a percentage of 3% and this is based on our CPI from December, that 01:26:49.320 --> 01:27:01.680 - would cost $41,969,095 or a difference of $813,214. 01:27:01.680 --> 01:27:13.240 - If you did a flat rate of $2.28, it would cost $42,153,329, which is a difference of 01:27:13.240 --> 01:27:33.960 - $997,448. The fiscal impact, which is what I -- let me pull that up. What I did was I 01:27:33.960 --> 01:27:43.360 - went through all of our personnel, found out where they're at currently, where they're 01:27:43.360 --> 01:27:51.960 - being paid, and then I attached them to the classification with regards to their step 01:27:51.960 --> 01:28:03.480 - increase for next year. So, as you can see, this is a 35-hour grid, and I'm looking at 01:28:03.480 --> 01:28:13.280 - the Comet Bs. We have 10 people at the one year, 16 at the three year, six at the eight 01:28:13.280 --> 01:28:23.520 - year, two at the 14, and four at the 20 year. And then it's going to cost, just for that 01:28:23.520 --> 01:28:33.400 - one classification, right there is $1,737,636. If you slide over with the same numbers, here's 01:28:33.400 --> 01:28:45.040 - the flat rate at a 35-hour, which is $1,827,000. So, I tried to give you the best guess based 01:28:45.040 --> 01:28:53.000 - on the information that I currently have of how many people we have where, and what it 01:28:53.000 --> 01:29:01.720 - will cost overall. Based on last year, what we budgeted for salaries only, this does not 01:29:01.720 --> 01:29:09.000 - include PERF, and it does not include FICA. This is just straight salaries. 01:29:09.000 --> 01:29:19.880 - Okay. Thank you to council staff for doing all of that. That's a lot of work to put together. 01:29:19.880 --> 01:29:27.360 - So, we definitely needed that. So, thank you, Michelle and Ms. Moser for putting that all 01:29:27.360 --> 01:29:33.320 - together. Looking to the gallery here, and trying to look at my colleagues to see if 01:29:33.320 --> 01:29:41.440 - anybody has any questions. I'm going to start over here with Councilor Iverson. 01:29:41.440 --> 01:29:45.880 - My first question after seeing the spreadsheet that was sent out, which again, thank you, 01:29:45.880 --> 01:29:53.920 - that's a lot of work that you and Courtney Moser put into it, was this concept of compression. 01:29:53.920 --> 01:30:01.280 - How do we tell whether or not, if we've been doing flat rate, flat rate, flat rate, flat 01:30:01.280 --> 01:30:05.480 - rate for years and years and years, the difference between what a Comet and a PAT makes gets 01:30:05.480 --> 01:30:12.120 - to be very, very close, reducing the incentive for someone to take a job, a Comet job, because 01:30:12.120 --> 01:30:17.980 - they could make the same amount, or vice versa, excuse me. So, that's one end of the spectrum. 01:30:17.980 --> 01:30:23.280 - The other end of the spectrum is low compression, where the difference between a Comet and 01:30:23.280 --> 01:30:30.540 - a PAT is wide apart. And my question to council office was, how do we tell? What are the metrics 01:30:30.540 --> 01:30:35.400 - that we use to tell how compressed we are, and could that give us an indication of whether 01:30:35.400 --> 01:30:40.400 - we should lean towards flat or we should lean towards percentage? And Michelle, I think 01:30:40.400 --> 01:30:48.840 - you distributed this list, and I was wondering if I could ask you to walk us through that. 01:30:48.840 --> 01:31:16.040 - No? Okay. No. Or I could. That's okay. I'm just trying to find it so that I can. Okay. 01:31:16.040 --> 01:31:20.680 - This is me eating up all five minutes so no one else can talk. 01:31:20.680 --> 01:31:28.040 - I think another topic, as long as she doesn't have to look up anything. 01:31:28.040 --> 01:31:34.520 - So this afternoon, I just quickly tried to put something together just to show where 01:31:34.520 --> 01:31:43.200 - we're at currently with regards to the percentages between the Comet and, as you can see, like 01:31:43.200 --> 01:31:53.160 - a Comet and a Pact, it seems like there's a lot of concern. What I hear is that, you 01:31:53.160 --> 01:32:01.760 - know, a high Comet person, you know, paying person, is maybe making almost as much as 01:32:01.760 --> 01:32:17.280 - a Pact. And as you can see, right now, the current compression is at 79%. And so if you 01:32:17.280 --> 01:32:22.280 - do a 3%, it's going to keep that compression the same, but if you do a flat rate, it's 01:32:22.280 --> 01:32:29.280 - going to raise that to 81%, which means when you reach one, or, you know, like a total 01:32:29.280 --> 01:32:35.280 - of one or 100, the Comets and the Pacts are going to be paid exactly the same. There's 01:32:35.280 --> 01:32:45.240 - going to be no difference in that. So, and like I said, I just kind of threw this together 01:32:45.240 --> 01:32:52.000 - just because of, you know, there's talk of the compression. So between a Comet and an 01:32:52.000 --> 01:33:01.600 - EXE, you can see that there is a definite difference in this kind of thing. It's if 01:33:01.600 --> 01:33:08.280 - you start adding the flats and you do a flat, you know, for over several years, which Council 01:33:08.280 --> 01:33:15.120 - in prior years had done that, and that caused some compression, and then that's when we 01:33:15.120 --> 01:33:24.960 - had to have WISC come in and do a salary evaluation as well as the job descriptions. And so that's 01:33:24.960 --> 01:33:35.480 - when we came up with the new grids back in 2021 for 2022. So we've since 2021 have stayed 01:33:35.480 --> 01:33:41.240 - with a percentage moving forward, except for a few classifications that you've given a 01:33:41.240 --> 01:33:52.440 - little bit of an additional flat rate too. So that's why you can see just a wee bit of 01:33:52.440 --> 01:33:59.200 - some compression with regards to the comets versus the Pats, and a little bit with the 01:33:59.200 --> 01:34:10.760 - LTC versus the Pats. Everybody else is, in my opinion, is okay. If you go with the flat 01:34:10.760 --> 01:34:19.520 - which, you know, and I don't know how, you know, FSG feels about that or anything. But 01:34:19.520 --> 01:34:26.240 - if you go with the flat, I wouldn't do that again for at least several years, you know, 01:34:26.240 --> 01:34:31.680 - just just so that we don't get into that mess where we're going to have to do another salary 01:34:31.680 --> 01:34:43.280 - review again. Because again last year we did the flat. You did a flat to the comet section 01:34:43.280 --> 01:34:51.280 - only. Got it. Got it. We did a percentage. You did a percentage and then on top of that 01:34:51.280 --> 01:34:58.320 - percentage you gave the comet an additional flat amount. Got it. On the hour. The bottom 01:34:58.320 --> 01:35:05.120 - line. Got it. Okay. That answered my question. Okay. Thank you. Did that answer your question? 01:35:05.120 --> 01:35:09.840 - I don't have any further follow up. I want to hear what other counsels have to say. I 01:35:09.840 --> 01:35:15.920 - have a question about the wage compression. So when I think of wage compression, I look 01:35:15.920 --> 01:35:28.160 - at a classification and the range that classification pays. Is that fair analysis? Okay. So I guess 01:35:28.160 --> 01:35:38.320 - I'm not sure. I mean, I've seen lots of salary ranges in my dealings with things. And I know 01:35:38.320 --> 01:35:46.120 - that there's some overlap, right? So I guess I'm more interested in what the wage compression 01:35:46.120 --> 01:35:52.780 - will do with each individual range, if that makes any sense. So is that what this tells 01:35:52.780 --> 01:35:59.520 - me, this chart you gave me? Yeah. Okay. This is the percentage versus the flat. 01:35:59.520 --> 01:36:04.800 - Yeah. Okay. Do you understand kind of what I'm saying? 01:36:04.800 --> 01:36:11.720 - Yes. Okay. So if, so if you have, let's say for round number purposes, let's say you have 01:36:11.720 --> 01:36:18.560 - 20 employees in, let's just call them numbers, level one, you have level pay range one, you 01:36:18.560 --> 01:36:27.440 - have 20 employees in level one. And so now if you give the flat rate raise, then that 01:36:27.440 --> 01:36:33.200 - is bound, depending on where everybody falls in that range of their salary range for that 01:36:33.200 --> 01:36:40.760 - level one, it very well could put many of them very close to people at the top and skew 01:36:40.760 --> 01:36:46.080 - that whole range off a lot of where they fall in the range. So that's what I'm trying to 01:36:46.080 --> 01:36:58.320 - get at here. That make any sense to everybody? Yeah, I guess so. So this is my grids that 01:36:58.320 --> 01:37:16.000 - I had and for Comet B, for the 2026, and this is the 3%, that amount, just we're saying 01:37:16.000 --> 01:37:31.440 - one person across, okay? So that is the total across, if you had one person in each one 01:37:31.440 --> 01:37:38.680 - of these categories, that's it. And then so then I took and divided, you know, put all 01:37:38.680 --> 01:37:48.680 - those together and divided out and came up with, it would be a 13.8% for that whole classification 01:37:48.680 --> 01:38:01.060 - right there. I don't know if I'm actually getting what you're, you know, trying to say, 01:38:01.060 --> 01:38:10.160 - that there would be a, if it's equal across, I mean, you're not going to have much of a 01:38:10.160 --> 01:38:20.400 - compression if you, if everybody gets the same thing across in a classification, if 01:38:20.400 --> 01:38:21.400 - they get it equally. 01:38:21.400 --> 01:38:27.680 - So then do, let's say there's a salary range in a classification, so then do the salary 01:38:27.680 --> 01:38:35.000 - ranges go up along with the percentage or the flat rate? 01:38:35.000 --> 01:38:36.000 - Yes. 01:38:36.000 --> 01:38:37.000 - They do. 01:38:37.000 --> 01:38:38.000 - Okay. 01:38:38.000 --> 01:38:39.000 - Yeah, everything goes up. 01:38:39.000 --> 01:38:40.000 - So like those years- 01:38:40.000 --> 01:38:41.000 - The whole grid goes up. 01:38:41.000 --> 01:38:42.000 - Yeah, the whole grid goes up. 01:38:42.000 --> 01:38:43.000 - Okay. 01:38:43.000 --> 01:38:46.920 - So if everybody gets 3%, the whole grid goes up 3%. 01:38:46.920 --> 01:38:53.560 - If we're going to do $2.28 on the hour, the whole grid goes $2.28 on the hour. 01:38:53.560 --> 01:39:02.640 - So it's not just an individual classification, so I don't see that a lot within the classification. 01:39:02.640 --> 01:39:08.280 - What I see is when the compression is between the classifications themselves. 01:39:08.280 --> 01:39:18.760 - So I think I'm with you now, but I think for me, and I'm ready to switch topics if I can, 01:39:18.760 --> 01:39:26.520 - I'm interested in what it's actually going to cost, and so from what I can tell the $2.28 01:39:26.520 --> 01:39:31.960 - an hour for everyone will be more cost to the county than the 3%, is that right? 01:39:31.960 --> 01:39:32.960 - Yes. 01:39:32.960 --> 01:39:35.400 - I've got that figured out, okay. 01:39:35.400 --> 01:39:42.480 - So I think this is a tough year for a lot of reasons, and we just lessened the KSA ability, 01:39:42.480 --> 01:39:52.120 - and so I feel funny about doing that and then going ahead and paying more actually at the 01:39:52.120 --> 01:39:53.120 - flat rate. 01:39:53.120 --> 01:39:54.120 - I understand. 01:39:54.120 --> 01:39:55.120 - Councilor Wilts. 01:39:55.120 --> 01:40:03.440 - I guess that kind of begs the question for me of why we have this dichotomy of 3% and 01:40:03.440 --> 01:40:11.640 - $2.28 when the world is our oyster to some extent on we could say a flat rate of $1, 01:40:11.640 --> 01:40:22.880 - we could say a percentage of 2%, or I mean, we could do other things, I guess, and basing 01:40:22.880 --> 01:40:34.000 - it a little bit on what we feel is coming in, which I know we don't have a lot of very 01:40:34.000 --> 01:40:39.720 - specific information yet, but this is typically why in the past we've left it at zero and 01:40:39.720 --> 01:40:44.000 - then made the decision later, which I get is what we're trying to avoid because that 01:40:44.000 --> 01:40:50.920 - makes it hard on folks doing the math, but I don't think we have to necessarily limit 01:40:50.920 --> 01:40:54.960 - ourselves to just these two numbers. 01:40:54.960 --> 01:40:56.560 - Where did the $2.28 come from? 01:40:56.560 --> 01:40:59.240 - I don't think I know that. 01:40:59.240 --> 01:41:05.440 - What I had to do is I took a payroll report and I had to dissect it down into how many 01:41:05.440 --> 01:41:13.080 - employees, how many hours and the hourly rates and then I had to take it and do all of this 01:41:13.080 --> 01:41:24.040 - math and everything to come up with the average hourly rate, multiply that against the percentage 01:41:24.040 --> 01:41:31.320 - and then that's how I came up with the dollar amount that would equal a 3%. 01:41:31.320 --> 01:41:35.560 - So it's the equivalent. 01:41:35.560 --> 01:41:39.800 - The numbers don't work out if you multiply it out what it's going to cost though, right? 01:41:39.800 --> 01:41:40.800 - No, and they won't. 01:41:40.800 --> 01:41:41.800 - They never do. 01:41:41.800 --> 01:41:42.800 - Okay. 01:41:42.800 --> 01:41:48.720 - A percentage is always going to be different than the flat amount when you add it specifically 01:41:48.720 --> 01:41:55.080 - to each hourly rate or the 3% to each hourly rate. 01:41:55.080 --> 01:42:00.080 - I see a hand over waving at me here, so Councilor Henry. 01:42:00.080 --> 01:42:01.160 - Thank you. 01:42:01.160 --> 01:42:04.040 - So I agree with Councilor Wilson. 01:42:04.040 --> 01:42:05.040 - The world is our oyster. 01:42:05.040 --> 01:42:10.540 - I think there's a few different oysters to take a look at, and I've kind of taken this 01:42:10.540 --> 01:42:17.480 - as sort of a sketch of where we can go, but I was kind of side barring with Councilor 01:42:17.480 --> 01:42:23.320 - Hawke here, but isn't this fund dependent as well, depending on what revenues we're 01:42:23.320 --> 01:42:24.560 - going to see in different funds? 01:42:24.560 --> 01:42:28.440 - So there may be departments that are going to feel really stressed with this percentage 01:42:28.440 --> 01:42:34.400 - point versus other, can you maybe give me a sketch of what you think the fund impact 01:42:34.400 --> 01:42:35.400 - would be? 01:42:35.400 --> 01:42:36.400 - I can't do that right now. 01:42:36.400 --> 01:42:37.400 - That's fair. 01:42:37.400 --> 01:42:38.400 - I mean, yeah, just ballparking. 01:42:38.400 --> 01:42:44.200 - No, I can't, because then I would have to go back in and figure all of that out, but 01:42:44.200 --> 01:42:49.840 - I don't have that in front of me, but I can get it, but it's just a different look. 01:42:49.840 --> 01:42:52.800 - It's a little more granular, but it may help us see that. 01:42:52.800 --> 01:42:56.160 - I can't say that any department heads have reached out to me, but I'm aware that some 01:42:56.160 --> 01:43:00.120 - department heads have started to show some concern about the funds and how this may be 01:43:00.120 --> 01:43:02.960 - a bit of a challenge for them versus other departments. 01:43:02.960 --> 01:43:03.960 - Thank you. 01:43:03.960 --> 01:43:08.500 - Yeah, I think departments that are heavy in employees and not many other expenses will 01:43:08.500 --> 01:43:11.440 - find this difficult, in my opinion. 01:43:11.440 --> 01:43:13.560 - Councillor Hawke? 01:43:13.560 --> 01:43:20.480 - Yes, I think the original question was, what is this going to cost? 01:43:20.480 --> 01:43:24.240 - I think that's what I heard in that last meeting. 01:43:24.240 --> 01:43:32.560 - And so, it's pretty easy for us to think it would be easy until we have to really work 01:43:32.560 --> 01:43:33.560 - the numbers. 01:43:33.560 --> 01:43:39.480 - But what I'd like to see is, this is how many employees that we pay for out of the general 01:43:39.480 --> 01:43:46.240 - fund, okay, and then how many in the healthy part, all the ones that are inside the frozen 01:43:46.240 --> 01:43:53.960 - living, because we know that our increase is going to be tied to all five of those units 01:43:53.960 --> 01:43:56.400 - inside that frozen living. 01:43:56.400 --> 01:44:06.480 - And that's where we're talking about what it's going to cost us for the raises for everybody 01:44:06.480 --> 01:44:08.240 - inside the frozen living. 01:44:08.240 --> 01:44:12.280 - We know the highway department is not paid within that frozen living. 01:44:12.280 --> 01:44:19.800 - So it would only make sense, let's say, if you've got 450 people that's inside that frozen 01:44:19.800 --> 01:44:23.200 - living, then you figure out what that percentage is. 01:44:23.200 --> 01:44:30.360 - Now I get it that the whole compression thing, but if we're just, if we're saying we're going 01:44:30.360 --> 01:44:40.920 - to give everybody a $800 one year raise, go ahead and laugh, but we've done that before. 01:44:40.920 --> 01:44:47.120 - Whatever it is, then you take the $800 times out for many people and you kind of get an 01:44:47.120 --> 01:44:49.560 - idea of what you're going to do. 01:44:49.560 --> 01:44:54.880 - Now maybe that's where the whole compression thing causes a problem, but there's got to 01:44:54.880 --> 01:45:01.520 - be some way, I mean, we're sitting here saying yes or no, and we really don't know what it's 01:45:01.520 --> 01:45:06.520 - going to cost us to do yes or no. 01:45:06.520 --> 01:45:15.040 - You know, the highway is not funded with property tax, but with gas tax, et cetera. 01:45:15.040 --> 01:45:20.720 - And normally, the domain has to always do the way we've always done because, you know, 01:45:20.720 --> 01:45:28.120 - it's a whole different method of doing it, but it has been in the past that if we couldn't 01:45:28.120 --> 01:45:34.520 - afford to give the rest of the people a raise in county general or wherever, then we couldn't 01:45:34.520 --> 01:45:39.360 - afford to give the highway raise, or if what we could do for the county general, we can 01:45:39.360 --> 01:45:45.720 - give them a 3% raise, 2% whatever it was, that's sort of what we brought along the highway 01:45:45.720 --> 01:45:46.720 - with as well. 01:45:46.720 --> 01:45:52.400 - I'm not saying that was the right way, but, you know, but at some point in the other, 01:45:52.400 --> 01:45:58.600 - we don't need to know what the dollar amount is, and I don't see it. 01:45:58.600 --> 01:46:07.480 - Yeah, I want to bring this back to the reason why we're discussing this tonight is because 01:46:07.480 --> 01:46:12.220 - there is a budget letter from the president that goes out every single year to the departments 01:46:12.220 --> 01:46:14.640 - telling departments what to expect. 01:46:14.640 --> 01:46:16.520 - That letter has not gone out yet. 01:46:16.520 --> 01:46:24.280 - We are three months away from our first budget hearing, almost to the day, and we also know 01:46:24.280 --> 01:46:29.680 - that departments are going to be looking at Form 144s and the personnel workbooks becoming 01:46:29.680 --> 01:46:32.040 - available in just three days. 01:46:32.040 --> 01:46:40.560 - So we, if we're going to, the reason why I think it's important to have these conversations 01:46:40.560 --> 01:46:45.280 - tonight is we do need to come to some type of a consensus this evening so that the president 01:46:45.280 --> 01:46:49.400 - can send that letter out to the departments telling them what to expect as they're completing 01:46:49.400 --> 01:46:51.440 - their budgets. 01:46:51.440 --> 01:46:56.640 - And so there is, I think, a little bit of an urgency to come up with some type of a 01:46:56.640 --> 01:46:59.880 - decision before we leave this evening. 01:46:59.880 --> 01:47:00.880 - Okay. 01:47:00.880 --> 01:47:03.880 - Councilor Decker. 01:47:03.880 --> 01:47:05.040 - Thank you very much. 01:47:05.040 --> 01:47:09.320 - I have heard some comments from folks that appreciate the effort to kind of get ahead 01:47:09.320 --> 01:47:13.080 - of this now versus the fall, figure it out. 01:47:13.080 --> 01:47:19.080 - And then we have the intense COLA debates that we've had in the past, and I kind of 01:47:19.080 --> 01:47:22.840 - appreciate thinking outside the box, Madam President. 01:47:22.840 --> 01:47:30.520 - When I have looked at this, and I also kind of have the, where's the 228 versus the 3% 01:47:30.520 --> 01:47:31.520 - come from? 01:47:31.520 --> 01:47:35.560 - And I understand that's an effort to try to make those on par with each other. 01:47:35.560 --> 01:47:43.800 - I am worried that despite Michelle's good answer, I am worried a little bit about the 01:47:43.800 --> 01:47:50.720 - flat rate getting us into some long-term compression issues that sort of manifest. 01:47:50.720 --> 01:47:56.880 - I remember Margie Rice when she was working for us and not the city just saying over and 01:47:56.880 --> 01:48:00.480 - over about the WISP process, how that emerged. 01:48:00.480 --> 01:48:05.320 - And I remember, my gosh, how much we spent on that, both time and treasure to try to 01:48:05.320 --> 01:48:06.360 - get it right. 01:48:06.360 --> 01:48:09.440 - So the flat rate makes me a little bit cautious. 01:48:09.440 --> 01:48:12.680 - Even as Michelle said, you don't want to do that then for several years, well, it tells 01:48:12.680 --> 01:48:15.680 - me that it might be doing a little bit more. 01:48:15.680 --> 01:48:20.940 - I wonder on this percentage option, if we were left with that, because the president does 01:48:20.940 --> 01:48:23.440 - need to issue a letter and give guidance. 01:48:23.440 --> 01:48:24.440 - That must happen. 01:48:24.440 --> 01:48:29.480 - Having been in that role, that's got to happen because that's given her stress, them stress 01:48:29.480 --> 01:48:30.480 - and everybody else. 01:48:30.480 --> 01:48:35.920 - I'm wondering if the percentage role is where we get a chance to get a little bit to some 01:48:35.920 --> 01:48:42.660 - of the fruit that helps us prepare potentially for the end of this, if that percentage came 01:48:42.660 --> 01:48:48.680 - down just a little bit and if that percentage gave advice to departments to plan on that 01:48:48.680 --> 01:48:55.320 - at a lower rate so that they weren't so stretched on the back end, trying to figure out how 01:48:55.320 --> 01:48:57.560 - they were going to cover things. 01:48:57.560 --> 01:48:59.520 - I also offer this. 01:48:59.520 --> 01:49:05.640 - In my head, two to two and a half maybe starts to do something there and I'm just throwing 01:49:05.640 --> 01:49:07.140 - that out. 01:49:07.140 --> 01:49:13.880 - Given that, I will say this, I don't believe that because there are so many unknowns, I 01:49:13.880 --> 01:49:18.920 - don't believe we'll have a number and then that ends percentage calculations because 01:49:18.920 --> 01:49:25.080 - we have had to go back to the mat for less of good reasons and I think because so many 01:49:25.080 --> 01:49:28.880 - things are unknown and the president's letter does need to go out and we do need to not 01:49:28.880 --> 01:49:34.160 - be in the past of what we've done among all the change, I throw all those out. 01:49:34.160 --> 01:49:42.680 - If a smaller percentage gives departments flexibility to work within this figured out, 01:49:42.680 --> 01:49:50.800 - nothing we do here anyway until that budget is adopted means 3, 2, 2.5 or beyond, none 01:49:50.800 --> 01:49:55.280 - of it means it because we could get into a drastic situation anyway and still be adjusting 01:49:55.280 --> 01:49:59.040 - that but the president does have to issue a letter, they've got to go figure out what 01:49:59.040 --> 01:50:03.360 - they need to figure out and that gives them the ability to do that, come back in here 01:50:03.360 --> 01:50:08.120 - and say council, if you lost your mind, council you're doing a marvelous job, council we need 01:50:08.120 --> 01:50:14.360 - to move this, that or the other and I kind of throw that out for some entertained thought. 01:50:14.360 --> 01:50:23.520 - No, that was a perfect segue to what is the will of the council because again working 01:50:23.520 --> 01:50:29.680 - with council staff we just thought that this would be a good idea to do this in a different 01:50:29.680 --> 01:50:35.680 - type of way, again whoever sits in this president seat next year can do it completely different 01:50:35.680 --> 01:50:40.800 - but and it's a challenge, I'll tell you that much, it's a whole lot of personalities and 01:50:40.800 --> 01:50:47.800 - a whole lot of conflict to say the least and we're only month almost six into this. 01:50:47.800 --> 01:50:53.680 - So anyways, because I can say I could write a whole book or Mr. Askins write an article 01:50:53.680 --> 01:50:54.680 - about it. 01:50:54.680 --> 01:51:00.080 - So that being said, again, just trying to think outside the box of what it is that we can 01:51:00.080 --> 01:51:07.640 - do so we can give guidance to department heads, you know, do what is the will of this particular 01:51:07.640 --> 01:51:15.080 - seven body member right now so that we can move forward with this particular letter. 01:51:15.080 --> 01:51:25.120 - I would be interested in doing a percentage at or below 3%. 01:51:25.120 --> 01:51:32.360 - I would, my understanding is that it's not any easier for our office. 01:51:32.360 --> 01:51:37.760 - If we don't stick with what we pick, right, so no matter what we pick if we change it 01:51:37.760 --> 01:51:42.200 - at all, they still have to go back and do all the math. 01:51:42.200 --> 01:51:47.880 - That is why I just always went with let's keep it flat so that we don't, it's just 01:51:47.880 --> 01:51:57.560 - easy to see what changes there are, and that was also my, you know, my own convenience 01:51:57.560 --> 01:51:58.560 - too. 01:51:58.560 --> 01:52:01.100 - So I'm not advocating that necessarily. 01:52:01.100 --> 01:52:08.800 - I'm just saying that whatever we pick, if we change it, it still makes it, it hasn't 01:52:08.800 --> 01:52:12.280 - saved them any time. 01:52:12.280 --> 01:52:18.360 - I feel that 3% is a little high. 01:52:18.360 --> 01:52:24.040 - I am very concerned about our ability to do this. 01:52:24.040 --> 01:52:27.080 - You hear me on almost all of these types of discussions. 01:52:27.080 --> 01:52:35.320 - I'm always a little, you know, more conservative on the spendy things. 01:52:35.320 --> 01:52:40.400 - So you know, I think a 2.5 would be reasonable. 01:52:40.400 --> 01:52:41.400 - Okay. 01:52:41.400 --> 01:52:47.800 - Councilor Wilts has spoken and I see the right side of me is jumping over here. 01:52:47.800 --> 01:52:53.040 - So I will go with Council Iverson and then I'll go down the line here. 01:52:53.040 --> 01:52:59.040 - Madam President, I would join Councilor Wilts in a recommendation for percentage increase. 01:52:59.040 --> 01:53:08.000 - I would recommend a 3% because I believe that our staff deserves to have meaningful compensation 01:53:08.000 --> 01:53:12.640 - to fight against the inflationary pressures that people are feeling every single day, 01:53:12.640 --> 01:53:17.120 - whether it's the grocery store or in other areas of their lives. 01:53:17.120 --> 01:53:22.540 - And I think that is a useful benchmark that we can give folks. 01:53:22.540 --> 01:53:23.540 - It's really clear. 01:53:23.540 --> 01:53:28.200 - And I also think that the way that we've set this up, where we're going to departments 01:53:28.200 --> 01:53:32.120 - and saying we're setting it at three, that's the benchmark. 01:53:32.120 --> 01:53:36.400 - Now let's work together with your liaisons to get your budgets in right order. 01:53:36.400 --> 01:53:38.560 - I think that makes a lot of sense to me. 01:53:38.560 --> 01:53:41.600 - So I join Councilor Wilts in a percent. 01:53:41.600 --> 01:53:42.600 - Okay. 01:53:42.600 --> 01:53:46.000 - Councilor Henry, did you have anything to add? 01:53:46.000 --> 01:53:50.560 - I mean, based on the draft letter, I have no changes to that document. 01:53:50.560 --> 01:53:52.120 - I would accept it as is. 01:53:52.120 --> 01:53:53.120 - Okay. 01:53:53.120 --> 01:53:54.120 - Thank you. 01:53:54.120 --> 01:54:03.000 - Out of curiosity, does anyone recall what the state, I see a hand over there. 01:54:03.000 --> 01:54:11.240 - I received notification from the court's administrator that the judges and the prosecutor elected 01:54:11.240 --> 01:54:14.200 - officials are going to be at zero. 01:54:14.200 --> 01:54:19.720 - I have not heard anything yet as of for probation officers. 01:54:19.720 --> 01:54:22.180 - So I'm still waiting on that information. 01:54:22.180 --> 01:54:29.300 - But the judges and prosecutor who we have tied our, our sheriff as well as our public 01:54:29.300 --> 01:54:38.160 - defender people will receive zero for 25 to 26 fiscal year. 01:54:38.160 --> 01:54:39.160 - Wow. 01:54:39.160 --> 01:54:44.720 - That should tell us something, folks. 01:54:44.720 --> 01:54:50.200 - The other thing that I would add to that is we did hear again, we have FSG, we have a 01:54:50.200 --> 01:54:55.400 - long-term finance committee meeting for, and committee members for a reason, and we did 01:54:55.400 --> 01:55:00.640 - hear Mr. Garrett to say at the last part of that meeting back in April that the average 01:55:00.640 --> 01:55:04.680 - in what he's telling people is the 3%. 01:55:04.680 --> 01:55:10.680 - I agree with Councilor Iverson that I think we've already heard and we've known that government 01:55:10.680 --> 01:55:16.720 - and Monroe County government employees, former employees have left to go to other places 01:55:16.720 --> 01:55:20.500 - and are competitive with the city. 01:55:20.500 --> 01:55:26.120 - So I think that, again, while we are still playing ping pong of guess what number we'll 01:55:26.120 --> 01:55:35.480 - play today, I think I would be comfortable with doing the 3%, the 3% to just kind of 01:55:35.480 --> 01:55:36.840 - go from there. 01:55:36.840 --> 01:55:37.840 - So... 01:55:37.840 --> 01:55:38.840 - Yes, Michelle. 01:55:38.840 --> 01:55:47.080 - I just want to say in the past we've always said a flat rate with regards to when you 01:55:47.080 --> 01:55:53.120 - budget, you know, you tell everyone budget flat, budget flat, well, when we put those 01:55:53.120 --> 01:56:00.000 - numbers into LOW and we give them back to you, it does not show what our actual budget 01:56:00.000 --> 01:56:04.120 - is because it's not including any COLA. 01:56:04.120 --> 01:56:10.400 - If you do set a percentage now, at least you can see this might be how much it's going 01:56:10.400 --> 01:56:12.680 - to cost our budget. 01:56:12.680 --> 01:56:17.640 - And so, you know, to me, that's going to give you a lot better number than in the middle 01:56:17.640 --> 01:56:25.000 - of budget sessions, you're looking at it and going, hey, oh, you know, hey, we've met our 01:56:25.000 --> 01:56:30.360 - amount, but no, not really because you haven't included the COLA in those amounts, which 01:56:30.360 --> 01:56:34.480 - then if you include the COLA, it's going to change your PERF and your FICA. 01:56:34.480 --> 01:56:40.400 - So to me, putting something at the beginning, like I'm requesting you guys are talking about, 01:56:40.400 --> 01:56:48.960 - I think is going to actually give you better numbers when we get into the budget sessions. 01:56:48.960 --> 01:56:49.960 - My opinion. 01:56:49.960 --> 01:56:52.720 - And I appreciate that. 01:56:52.720 --> 01:56:56.640 - Again, this is just what we're doing right now is not set in stone. 01:56:56.640 --> 01:57:01.000 - There's no resolution, no ordinance that says that this day moving forward, that's how every 01:57:01.000 --> 01:57:05.320 - single council president beyond me will continue to have to do this. 01:57:05.320 --> 01:57:10.000 - This is just a way of us trying to stay ahead of that eight ball and just trying to be a 01:57:10.000 --> 01:57:15.200 - little bit more transformative in our thinking when it comes to a budget cycle. 01:57:15.200 --> 01:57:16.200 - Councilor Decker. 01:57:16.200 --> 01:57:21.680 - Madam President, with that in mind, I'd move that the council support a president's letter 01:57:21.680 --> 01:57:29.040 - with a 3% COLA to be prepared and sent so departments may begin. 01:57:29.040 --> 01:57:34.440 - All right, we got a motion and a second. 01:57:34.440 --> 01:57:36.920 - Any final discussion on this? 01:57:36.920 --> 01:57:37.920 - Councilor Hawke. 01:57:37.920 --> 01:57:45.680 - Yes, I support us moving forward with something because staff needs it, the people out there, 01:57:45.680 --> 01:57:50.040 - all the departments are sitting there and they have theirs up against it trying to put 01:57:50.040 --> 01:57:51.040 - this together. 01:57:51.040 --> 01:57:55.080 - We do a lot of this work, each department. 01:57:55.080 --> 01:57:57.560 - So I think we should move forward with something. 01:57:57.560 --> 01:58:05.400 - I'm not sure we can do the 3%, I mean, I'd like to say 5% if we got, but at any rate, 01:58:05.400 --> 01:58:07.160 - let's get some numbers together. 01:58:07.160 --> 01:58:12.440 - Let's get the departments putting their requests together and see where we are on it. 01:58:12.440 --> 01:58:19.040 - So will the letter say something about the fact of 3% initially or 3% subject to change 01:58:19.040 --> 01:58:20.920 - or something like that? 01:58:20.920 --> 01:58:28.160 - It's always a proposed, and so it's never set in stone until after we get to our last 01:58:28.160 --> 01:58:29.160 - budget session. 01:58:29.160 --> 01:58:30.160 - Love it. 01:58:30.160 --> 01:58:31.160 - Correct. 01:58:31.160 --> 01:58:32.160 - Yes. 01:58:32.160 --> 01:58:34.120 - So anybody watching, this is not set in stone at all. 01:58:34.120 --> 01:58:39.640 - This is just a proposed thing for us to give department heads to go ahead to get the ball 01:58:39.640 --> 01:58:42.720 - rolling and numbers out. 01:58:42.720 --> 01:58:44.880 - All right. 01:58:44.880 --> 01:58:47.520 - Any other questions or comments? 01:58:47.520 --> 01:58:51.280 - And I, again, just appreciate us moving forward with this. 01:58:51.280 --> 01:58:56.520 - So maybe please have a-- do we have to do public comment? 01:58:56.520 --> 01:58:57.520 - All right. 01:58:57.520 --> 01:58:59.600 - Maybe-- And you can do a voice vote. 01:58:59.600 --> 01:59:00.600 - Oh, OK. 01:59:00.600 --> 01:59:08.840 - All those in favor of the president's letter to go out with a proposed 3% for the 2026 01:59:08.840 --> 01:59:11.160 - budget letter signify by saying aye. 01:59:11.160 --> 01:59:12.160 - Aye. 01:59:12.160 --> 01:59:14.800 - All those opposed, same sign. 01:59:14.800 --> 01:59:16.440 - All right. 01:59:16.440 --> 01:59:17.440 - So ordered. 01:59:17.440 --> 01:59:21.520 - So Michelle will send that out to department heads. 01:59:21.520 --> 01:59:27.240 - And again, this is where I think Council Iverson said this, and it also talks about this. 01:59:27.240 --> 01:59:31.840 - We talked about this in the department head meeting last week, is trying to work with 01:59:31.840 --> 01:59:34.740 - your liaisons. 01:59:34.740 --> 01:59:36.240 - We have done this before. 01:59:36.240 --> 01:59:42.160 - Again, I know everybody can reach out and touch everybody's hand as much as you can. 01:59:42.160 --> 01:59:48.000 - But again, we can all do, like I said, the good book says we can do all good things. 01:59:48.000 --> 01:59:54.080 - But I would really ask for us this particular year, if you've not heard me beg and plead 01:59:54.080 --> 02:00:01.440 - enough, is to work with your department, with liaisons, and two liaisons really working 02:00:01.440 --> 02:00:07.480 - together to make this work, because again, we're out here fending for our lives. 02:00:07.480 --> 02:00:13.120 - So with that being said, I appreciate all the questions, comments, concerns that I heard 02:00:13.120 --> 02:00:19.440 - tonight from council colleagues and looking to have any particular feedback from any department 02:00:19.440 --> 02:00:21.720 - or any employee that wants to give that. 02:00:21.720 --> 02:00:24.020 - So we appreciate that. 02:00:24.020 --> 02:00:30.980 - We have moved along a lot this evening, and we are at the end of the meeting where we 02:00:30.980 --> 02:00:34.040 - have council liaison updates and comments. 02:00:34.040 --> 02:00:38.920 - And I know we got some, so I'm going to start all the way over here to my left, because 02:00:38.920 --> 02:00:44.800 - I see Liz with her colored paper and highlights, and she is going to go to town. 02:00:44.800 --> 02:00:47.200 - So Councilor Feidl, take it away. 02:00:47.200 --> 02:00:52.840 - Well, as I remember, we didn't do this on the 13th, so I think we have like four weeks 02:00:52.840 --> 02:00:54.120 - to summarize here, right? 02:00:54.120 --> 02:00:58.160 - So a lot can happen in four weeks. 02:00:58.160 --> 02:01:00.680 - So I'll start with my 13th report. 02:01:00.680 --> 02:01:04.720 - So I'll just summarize the things that I was a part of. 02:01:04.720 --> 02:01:07.840 - I won't go into a whole lot of discussion because I don't think it merits it. 02:01:07.840 --> 02:01:12.280 - I just want to know people to know that we're involved in things. 02:01:12.280 --> 02:01:18.600 - And I've been working with the Sophia Travis Grant Committee, employee services, numerous 02:01:18.600 --> 02:01:24.600 - discussions about a multitude of topics there, attended the Booth Center meeting where that 02:01:24.600 --> 02:01:30.200 - was not finally passed on the 19th of May. 02:01:30.200 --> 02:01:36.680 - Been involved with the Monroe County Fair Board Association at their meeting, long-term 02:01:36.680 --> 02:01:45.760 - finance committee, went to the health department open house, did a downtown Bloomington meeting 02:01:45.760 --> 02:01:51.160 - where they gave updates on a lot of projects they're doing downtown. 02:01:51.160 --> 02:01:54.800 - I did a podcast with the 812 show. 02:01:54.800 --> 02:01:56.960 - Yes you did. 02:01:56.960 --> 02:01:57.960 - Thank you. 02:01:57.960 --> 02:02:07.080 - I attended the 50 Plants Expo event, went to an AIC budget finance meeting conference 02:02:07.080 --> 02:02:15.720 - in the last couple of weeks, DBI had a lot of updates. 02:02:15.720 --> 02:02:20.760 - The most fascinating thing I found out at their last DBI meeting was this blink microtransit 02:02:20.760 --> 02:02:21.760 - opportunity. 02:02:21.760 --> 02:02:32.080 - It begins June 2nd, it's free and it's basically between 10th Street and 1st Street and Rogers 02:02:32.080 --> 02:02:37.000 - and Indiana and it's Monday through Friday 11 to 2 and 5 to 9. 02:02:37.000 --> 02:02:43.800 - This was done in an attempt to help people downtown with accessibility to restaurants 02:02:43.800 --> 02:02:50.520 - and a multitude of other issues with downtown traversing. 02:02:50.520 --> 02:02:54.720 - I was happy to see the Monroe County Women's Commission meeting representative here tonight 02:02:54.720 --> 02:02:56.400 - and there was some good data. 02:02:56.400 --> 02:03:05.080 - I suggest people look at that meeting, for instance, in 2023, 20% living in poverty in 02:03:05.080 --> 02:03:09.280 - the county, half were female. 02:03:09.280 --> 02:03:14.560 - They're working on getting, Juneteenth is coming up, June 13th, where they'll at the 02:03:14.560 --> 02:03:24.800 - switch yard, they'll have blood pressure A1C and cholesterol from 2 to 9 that day. 02:03:24.800 --> 02:03:29.840 - Then the last thing I participated in before the holiday was a redevelopment commission 02:03:29.840 --> 02:03:36.040 - and the Westside TIF, the State Road 46 quarter TIF, Fullerton Pike TIF, and the Curry Profile 02:03:36.040 --> 02:03:40.640 - TIF were all updated and approved. 02:03:40.640 --> 02:03:41.640 - That's mine. 02:03:41.640 --> 02:03:46.500 - You can always count on you. 02:03:46.500 --> 02:03:48.800 - Now Councilor Wilts, you've got to follow that. 02:03:48.800 --> 02:03:49.800 - No thank you. 02:03:49.800 --> 02:03:50.800 - Just skip me. 02:03:50.800 --> 02:03:51.800 - I don't have anything. 02:03:51.800 --> 02:03:56.320 - I'm looking up Blink because I want to find out more about it. 02:03:56.320 --> 02:03:57.320 - Yeah. 02:03:57.320 --> 02:03:58.320 - Yes. 02:03:58.320 --> 02:03:59.320 - All right. 02:03:59.320 --> 02:04:00.320 - Councilor Decker. 02:04:00.320 --> 02:04:03.320 - Thank you very much, Madam President. 02:04:03.320 --> 02:04:07.480 - First, I do want to say thank you, Madam President, for all your leadership. 02:04:07.480 --> 02:04:11.620 - You have a hard job here and you do it very, very well in managing all of us. 02:04:11.620 --> 02:04:14.960 - And our uniqueness and strangeness. 02:04:14.960 --> 02:04:17.880 - And thank you because it's not lost on me. 02:04:17.880 --> 02:04:22.100 - I also want to point out just a few things that I've been up to taking inspiration from 02:04:22.100 --> 02:04:26.380 - Councilor Feidl trying to keep up just a wee bit to our new members who are doing such 02:04:26.380 --> 02:04:32.800 - a great job is that in the last couple of weeks, I've been able to do a few different 02:04:32.800 --> 02:04:33.800 - things. 02:04:33.800 --> 02:04:38.720 - Number one, I was able to attend Mother Hubbard's Cupboard annual breakfast and to hear the 02:04:38.720 --> 02:04:41.100 - tremendous work that they are doing. 02:04:41.100 --> 02:04:46.080 - We have so many organizations that are fulfilling hunger needs and Mother Hubbard's Cupboard 02:04:46.080 --> 02:04:54.320 - is extremely strong in so many different ways, whether it's helping people with cooking classes, 02:04:54.320 --> 02:05:01.120 - providing direct support through goods, but also through things like tool rental that 02:05:01.120 --> 02:05:02.560 - folks can take advantage of. 02:05:02.560 --> 02:05:07.120 - And if you don't know what Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, hardest name to pronounce, if you 02:05:07.120 --> 02:05:09.640 - don't know what that is, why don't you give them a look? 02:05:09.640 --> 02:05:15.300 - Because particularly for folks that are having some hunger, shortage, hunger issues, it's 02:05:15.300 --> 02:05:20.200 - one of the many miracle workers out there in this community making it happen. 02:05:20.200 --> 02:05:26.520 - I also had the immense pleasure to join other counselors this weekend at the dedication 02:05:26.520 --> 02:05:32.160 - of the Monroe County Fire District's new station up in Washington Township. 02:05:32.160 --> 02:05:38.960 - For those that have been following that discussion for some time, it is finally there giving 02:05:38.960 --> 02:05:44.640 - a lot of relief to folks in Washington Township where we have many friends and neighbors. 02:05:44.640 --> 02:05:50.800 - And I just want to compliment something, Chief Dillard and that Fire District in coordination 02:05:50.800 --> 02:05:58.680 - with the other units in this county are taking every day, it seems, a more holistic approach 02:05:58.680 --> 02:06:05.440 - to the fact that if you get something happens to you or your family, God forbid, on Kirkwood 02:06:05.440 --> 02:06:14.600 - or it is out on Denver Road, your odds, your response time are better than they have ever 02:06:14.600 --> 02:06:15.600 - been. 02:06:15.600 --> 02:06:16.600 - And that is growth. 02:06:16.600 --> 02:06:21.720 - And I always say this, the county can't continue to think about how things were in 1982. 02:06:21.720 --> 02:06:27.000 - We've got folks that are demanding 82 different things to happen for them and their families. 02:06:27.000 --> 02:06:30.240 - And Chief Dillard and the folks are doing such a good job. 02:06:30.240 --> 02:06:35.760 - Also this Memorial Day weekend, I was able to attend, along with other counselors, two 02:06:35.760 --> 02:06:38.600 - tremendous services in the community. 02:06:38.600 --> 02:06:46.160 - One, it's the quieter one up at Rose Hill Cemetery on Memorial Day and it's led by the 02:06:46.160 --> 02:06:47.780 - American Legion. 02:06:47.780 --> 02:06:52.760 - And one thing that the commander of the honor guard said that I want to pass along to amplify 02:06:52.760 --> 02:06:53.760 - his voice. 02:06:53.760 --> 02:06:56.800 - There was a crowd there, but I think this should be heard. 02:06:56.800 --> 02:06:59.840 - We have a lot of service members in this community. 02:06:59.840 --> 02:07:07.400 - My rough estimate is of our 139,000 folks in the county, based on about 5.1% of them 02:07:07.400 --> 02:07:16.200 - or so being veterans according to state statistics, that's 7,106 souls that have served this 02:07:16.200 --> 02:07:19.240 - country when called to do so. 02:07:19.240 --> 02:07:22.040 - The commander of the honor guard said something very interesting. 02:07:22.040 --> 02:07:27.540 - He said a lot of times at the end of life, veterans will say, "You know, I really shouldn't 02:07:27.540 --> 02:07:31.720 - have an honor guard send off when I have departed." 02:07:31.720 --> 02:07:32.720 - And he said something. 02:07:32.720 --> 02:07:39.660 - He said, "Whether you're a veteran or you're a widow, know that you took the oath that 02:07:39.660 --> 02:07:40.800 - service is for you." 02:07:40.800 --> 02:07:45.680 - So for all the veterans listening out there in this community, that honor guard's an awesome 02:07:45.680 --> 02:07:50.600 - thing that we have, and that is for you. 02:07:50.600 --> 02:07:55.520 - So I want to amplify the commander's voice on that beautiful ceremony also at Valhalla. 02:07:55.520 --> 02:07:59.360 - I also want to point out one thing that can sometimes get lost. 02:07:59.360 --> 02:08:04.360 - Here at the county, we have a beautiful Veterans Affairs office, two individuals that are always 02:08:04.360 --> 02:08:10.960 - working hard to deliver results for veterans here with us, and that is Stephen Miller, 02:08:10.960 --> 02:08:11.960 - Andrew Blake. 02:08:11.960 --> 02:08:15.320 - If you're a veteran out there, and they come here all the time and talk to us, but if you're 02:08:15.320 --> 02:08:21.360 - a veteran out there and you need help with the VA or other resources, this is a good 02:08:21.360 --> 02:08:26.520 - plug-in that the county is proud to support, and I urge you to check that out. 02:08:26.520 --> 02:08:30.240 - So there's a lot of good folks doing a lot of good things, a lot of heroes making things 02:08:30.240 --> 02:08:35.760 - happen, and I appreciate all their hard work this post-Memorial Day weekend. 02:08:35.760 --> 02:08:39.400 - Thank you very much. 02:08:39.400 --> 02:08:44.680 - All right, Counselor Henry, you ready? 02:08:44.680 --> 02:08:45.680 - Sure. 02:08:45.680 --> 02:08:46.680 - Thank you, Madam President. 02:08:46.680 --> 02:08:51.680 - I just want to limit my comments to some of the things we've heard tonight from public 02:08:51.680 --> 02:08:58.120 - comment and maybe put a coda on the KSA discussion. 02:08:58.120 --> 02:09:02.920 - I think I appreciate the discussion we had on the KSAs this evening. 02:09:02.920 --> 02:09:08.000 - I think the data that the staff is able to pull together in the past two weeks gave me 02:09:08.000 --> 02:09:12.160 - a different insight into what I was looking for, and I think the thing that jumps out 02:09:12.160 --> 02:09:18.720 - at me is when we look at departments that have frequently used KSAs as a hiring practice 02:09:18.720 --> 02:09:22.400 - to bring people into the county, that that's a signal to me there may be something wrong 02:09:22.400 --> 02:09:27.260 - with the bans that we have and not so much the KSAs that keep being offered. 02:09:27.260 --> 02:09:32.360 - So it gives me pause when I see a department or department heads come to say, look, we 02:09:32.360 --> 02:09:36.000 - really use this, but if they're using it all the time and they're hiring, we may need to 02:09:36.000 --> 02:09:42.680 - really take that back to PAC once we open up the shutters on PAC and revisiting that. 02:09:42.680 --> 02:09:46.120 - We shouldn't be in a case where people have to bring a KSA every time they want to hire 02:09:46.120 --> 02:09:47.120 - a position. 02:09:47.120 --> 02:09:51.440 - And so that has my attention a lot of times when they want to hire a position. 02:09:51.440 --> 02:09:56.760 - So I just want to maybe put an end point on that discussion tonight from my seat. 02:09:56.760 --> 02:10:02.720 - There are so many people to thank in the community for our tornado response that we had over 02:10:02.720 --> 02:10:03.720 - this past week. 02:10:03.720 --> 02:10:08.400 - I was about a quarter mile from the touchdown location and it was not lost. 02:10:08.400 --> 02:10:10.660 - I mean, just how incredibly close. 02:10:10.660 --> 02:10:15.520 - If that tornado was a quarter mile north, we wouldn't be talking about modest damage 02:10:15.520 --> 02:10:16.520 - in our community. 02:10:16.520 --> 02:10:21.400 - But for those families that did experience damage, it's very important I think for us 02:10:21.400 --> 02:10:25.040 - as elected officials to keep the story in the media. 02:10:25.040 --> 02:10:28.500 - The headlines are going to change very quickly in our community over the summer, but these 02:10:28.500 --> 02:10:34.000 - families are going to be facing four, six years worth of months and year worth of rebuilding. 02:10:34.000 --> 02:10:37.440 - We heard from, of course, folks that own the economy in this evening. 02:10:37.440 --> 02:10:42.520 - So if I become a bit of a, you know, if I keep beating this drum every other week here, 02:10:42.520 --> 02:10:46.080 - I may be doing that for the rest of the year until we know that these folks have been made 02:10:46.080 --> 02:10:49.680 - whole or whatever their new normal is going to be in our community. 02:10:49.680 --> 02:10:54.680 - That's 80 properties that were affected in this way, it's not a small number. 02:10:54.680 --> 02:10:58.600 - So of course, I know I occupy the Planning Commission seat for the council, and I'll 02:10:58.600 --> 02:11:01.880 - just share with you all that I have an increasing concern. 02:11:01.880 --> 02:11:07.000 - I've heard a lot from homeowners in the community who are affected to make sure that our new 02:11:07.000 --> 02:11:11.000 - county development organs does not get in the way of recovery, that it is a tool and 02:11:11.000 --> 02:11:12.640 - not an impediment. 02:11:12.640 --> 02:11:17.600 - And so if there are people listening to this, which I know the whole community tunes in, 02:11:17.600 --> 02:11:22.480 - if there are issues that you're experiencing in your rebuild, and if we have corners of 02:11:22.480 --> 02:11:26.800 - our county government that you feel are not being as efficient about building permits 02:11:26.800 --> 02:11:31.800 - and coding issues, do let me know, and of course let our Planning Commission partners 02:11:31.800 --> 02:11:36.520 - know that we need to make sure we rebuild as swiftly as we can within the footprints 02:11:36.520 --> 02:11:41.520 - that are available to the current footprints of those properties that were lost. 02:11:41.520 --> 02:11:45.680 - I would also say that I want to give credit to Perry Township. 02:11:45.680 --> 02:11:50.520 - I spent most of that weekend off and on with Perry Township Trustee Dan Combs as we were 02:11:50.520 --> 02:11:54.700 - constantly texting each other and roving around our two townships trying to figure out what 02:11:54.700 --> 02:11:57.400 - was going on in the community. 02:11:57.400 --> 02:12:03.680 - Dan and his team have really lifted a lot of people during the crisis point, and I would 02:12:03.680 --> 02:12:08.040 - just say it's something that I teach in my Emergency Management class that natural hazards 02:12:08.040 --> 02:12:09.280 - are not disasters. 02:12:09.280 --> 02:12:13.280 - What makes disasters are human choices about where we build and how we zone and how we 02:12:13.280 --> 02:12:18.000 - respond and recover to things, and for some folks who are already on township assistance 02:12:18.000 --> 02:12:22.720 - that have now been displaced again and spent time in a Red Cross shelter and are now staying 02:12:22.720 --> 02:12:27.720 - in other housing in the community, I do believe that we sometimes look at our townships as 02:12:27.720 --> 02:12:28.720 - Emergency Management. 02:12:28.720 --> 02:12:29.720 - They're not FEMA. 02:12:29.720 --> 02:12:33.920 - They provide a very specific service for our community, and we need to think through that 02:12:33.920 --> 02:12:40.320 - in the future on how a lot of our township trustees carry this burden in a time of crisis. 02:12:40.320 --> 02:12:44.040 - Lastly I want to just make one more highlight or comment. 02:12:44.040 --> 02:12:49.580 - Dr. Deckard already talked a little bit about our Monroe Fire Protection District. 02:12:49.580 --> 02:12:54.480 - By the next morning I was in Harrodsburg for their festival and was speaking with Monroe 02:12:54.480 --> 02:13:00.320 - Fire District personnel, and they had already had within 12 hours 150 homes adjudicated 02:13:00.320 --> 02:13:04.540 - in an app that they use when they go out to a property to take a look at the property 02:13:04.540 --> 02:13:06.920 - and start to adjudicate the damage to it. 02:13:06.920 --> 02:13:11.880 - That app was brought by Chief Dillard from Indiana Task Force 1, which is an urban search 02:13:11.880 --> 02:13:16.600 - and rescue task force that he's a part of that's FEMA funded in the state of Indiana. 02:13:16.600 --> 02:13:20.480 - He had the foresight to bring the app into our county and start using that on deployment 02:13:20.480 --> 02:13:25.120 - that night to capture really great data on what homes were really damaged and what ones 02:13:25.120 --> 02:13:26.540 - were not damaged. 02:13:26.540 --> 02:13:30.680 - That is a FEMA funded program that directly impacted our community yet again. 02:13:30.680 --> 02:13:34.200 - So again, if I become the emergency management drum beat down here, there's a reason for 02:13:34.200 --> 02:13:35.200 - it. 02:13:35.200 --> 02:13:38.120 - There are a lot of really good tools that come into our community and a lot of great 02:13:38.120 --> 02:13:40.680 - folks that were working that issue. 02:13:40.680 --> 02:13:44.280 - Let's keep all those folks in our thoughts in the next weeks and months ahead as this 02:13:44.280 --> 02:13:45.280 - is not over for them. 02:13:45.280 --> 02:13:46.280 - Thank you, Madam President. 02:13:46.280 --> 02:13:47.280 - Councillor Iverson. 02:13:47.280 --> 02:13:48.280 - Thank you, Madam President. 02:13:48.280 --> 02:13:55.000 - You know, Monroe County really is a special place. 02:13:55.000 --> 02:14:00.680 - Just hearing from the folks that came tonight to talk so passionately about their businesses 02:14:00.680 --> 02:14:06.360 - that were destroyed by the tornado reminds us all that this is a community that comes 02:14:06.360 --> 02:14:11.980 - together and I'm looking forward to continuing to work together to bring people together. 02:14:11.980 --> 02:14:17.080 - One of the commissions that I attended over the past four weeks was the Resilience Commission 02:14:17.080 --> 02:14:22.400 - where we heard from Maggie Sullivan from the Friends of Lake Monroe about some of the efforts 02:14:22.400 --> 02:14:28.880 - that they're making this summer and into the fall to make sure that our source of drinking 02:14:28.880 --> 02:14:33.960 - water and recreation remains resilient in the face of climate change. 02:14:33.960 --> 02:14:47.600 - We looked at the updates to the climate plan and we added some extra items there that the 02:14:47.600 --> 02:14:49.820 - county is going to be working on. 02:14:49.820 --> 02:14:55.360 - I'm hearing my voice or someone calling my name right now. 02:14:55.360 --> 02:14:58.280 - I muted him. 02:14:58.280 --> 02:15:05.840 - Alright thank you, the voice of God coming down. 02:15:05.840 --> 02:15:08.840 - So the Resilience Commission continue to look at their website. 02:15:08.840 --> 02:15:11.240 - They're going to be updating that very quickly. 02:15:11.240 --> 02:15:16.280 - The next meeting that I think I want to bring to people's attention is the Substance Use 02:15:16.280 --> 02:15:18.720 - Disorder Advisory Commission. 02:15:18.720 --> 02:15:27.120 - We were really heartened by federal data that in the year 2024 we had a 26% drop in fatalities 02:15:27.120 --> 02:15:29.440 - due to substance use disorder. 02:15:29.440 --> 02:15:34.640 - That's nationwide data, but we saw that same drop here in Monroe County, but we need federal 02:15:34.640 --> 02:15:39.940 - funding to make sure that we have resources from SAMHSA to continue doing the harm reduction 02:15:39.940 --> 02:15:41.560 - work that we're doing. 02:15:41.560 --> 02:15:44.800 - The federal cuts are not helping. 02:15:44.800 --> 02:15:49.320 - They will lead to an increased number of deaths in our community as an increased number of 02:15:49.320 --> 02:15:53.880 - cocktails in the form of illicit drugs come into this community. 02:15:53.880 --> 02:15:56.520 - We're very concerned about that. 02:15:56.520 --> 02:16:00.200 - We also convened the Opioid Settlement Body. 02:16:00.200 --> 02:16:09.880 - That group recommended that the commissioners tackle three different appropriations from 02:16:09.880 --> 02:16:14.680 - those funds that we kind of kept from previous workings. 02:16:14.680 --> 02:16:21.040 - So keep in touch with the commissioners meeting as those three items come up. 02:16:21.040 --> 02:16:24.040 - I was also there at the Fire Protection District. 02:16:24.040 --> 02:16:29.600 - This is Station 26 in Washington Township, and I'm really excited about that new station 02:16:29.600 --> 02:16:34.640 - coming on board because my district includes some of those northern communities like Dolan 02:16:34.640 --> 02:16:40.200 - and Hindustan that need this fire protection, and of course this benefits folks as their 02:16:40.200 --> 02:16:45.640 - insurance rates are going to be helped by having this additional fire protection up 02:16:45.640 --> 02:16:46.640 - there. 02:16:46.640 --> 02:16:47.800 - We're really excited by that. 02:16:47.800 --> 02:16:52.480 - I want to echo my colleagues' statements that the Monroe County Fire Protection District 02:16:52.480 --> 02:16:56.640 - was on top of the response during the storm. 02:16:56.640 --> 02:17:03.640 - In an email sent out on the 20th of this month, Chief Dustin Dillard wrote his initial response 02:17:03.640 --> 02:17:10.760 - in how they tackled the tornado, and it was just a reminder of how our first responders 02:17:10.760 --> 02:17:15.400 - were there on the scene doing what they needed to do to keep the residents safe. 02:17:15.400 --> 02:17:22.080 - Again, zero fatalities, so we're really encouraged by that, particularly as we look to the warmer 02:17:22.080 --> 02:17:30.320 - months of this year as the potential for additional storms is in their forecast potentially. 02:17:30.320 --> 02:17:35.840 - I also attended Memorial Day festivities, and I want to particularly thank Steve Miller 02:17:35.840 --> 02:17:40.520 - and Andrew Blake for their services to our veterans in our community. 02:17:40.520 --> 02:17:43.040 - I also want to highlight Brad Thompson. 02:17:43.040 --> 02:17:45.320 - He's the head of the Civil Air Patrol. 02:17:45.320 --> 02:17:51.040 - His youth came to the council to give a presentation not too long ago, and they were there doing 02:17:51.040 --> 02:17:55.280 - color guard activities on that Memorial Day service. 02:17:55.280 --> 02:17:59.920 - That was really meaningful to be able to talk to some of those youth again, and it was just 02:17:59.920 --> 02:18:04.400 - a really great day to be out there with all of our veterans with us. 02:18:04.400 --> 02:18:11.440 - The last thing that I will mention is that it is time for folks to start calling your 02:18:11.440 --> 02:18:13.160 - U.S. senators. 02:18:13.160 --> 02:18:20.440 - The budget bomb that came out of the U.S. House is making significant cuts to Medicaid. 02:18:20.440 --> 02:18:24.720 - The only reason I'm bringing this up is because it is personal for me. 02:18:24.720 --> 02:18:31.960 - My family would not have resources to continue to be in this community if it were not for 02:18:31.960 --> 02:18:34.160 - Medicaid waivers. 02:18:34.160 --> 02:18:41.480 - The cuts in this bill will significantly impact people's lives. 02:18:41.480 --> 02:18:43.440 - Call your senators. 02:18:43.440 --> 02:18:48.620 - This is a budget bomb that will increase our debt for the next 10 years to the tunes of 02:18:48.620 --> 02:18:55.720 - not millions, not billions, but trillions on the backs of the poor and the disabled. 02:18:55.720 --> 02:19:00.320 - This is unconscionable, and we have to do something to stop this. 02:19:00.320 --> 02:19:01.320 - Thank you. 02:19:01.320 --> 02:19:05.280 - Now I get to follow you. 02:19:05.280 --> 02:19:07.080 - That's hard. 02:19:07.080 --> 02:19:08.080 - So I appreciate that. 02:19:08.080 --> 02:19:09.080 - Thank you. 02:19:09.080 --> 02:19:15.640 - And I will say, and reflecting on tonight's conversation, there's obviously, like, hard 02:19:15.640 --> 02:19:20.520 - decisions that we all had to make today, and there were a lot of different opinions, but 02:19:20.520 --> 02:19:27.040 - I think we do those with heavy hearts because of what we have up against us right now. 02:19:27.040 --> 02:19:34.160 - So I just want to say to all of the colleagues, thank you very, very much for all of the debates. 02:19:34.160 --> 02:19:40.400 - Even those debates that we have that are disagreements, you know, we did some good stuff. 02:19:40.400 --> 02:19:44.880 - I will tell you, it is very stressful sitting in this role as president, but I'm new to 02:19:44.880 --> 02:19:47.400 - this, but I'm also true to this. 02:19:47.400 --> 02:19:53.400 - Under all these beautiful extensions, there's a lot of gray hair, but I'm up for the challenge. 02:19:53.400 --> 02:19:54.400 - So there you go. 02:19:54.400 --> 02:19:55.400 - Like to hear it. 02:19:55.400 --> 02:19:56.400 - Here it goes. 02:19:56.400 --> 02:20:03.360 - What has happened over the past several weeks, but I will keep my comments somewhat brief. 02:20:03.360 --> 02:20:10.720 - I will express that we learned in a tornado briefing with emergency management, I think 02:20:10.720 --> 02:20:18.200 - we heard 22 structures were destroyed, 33 were completely destroyed. 02:20:18.200 --> 02:20:24.640 - This is also personal for me because I live on the south side near the Clear Creek area 02:20:24.640 --> 02:20:31.320 - where it literally jumped over our neighborhood where our household saw it, and then it went 02:20:31.320 --> 02:20:32.360 - down the road. 02:20:32.360 --> 02:20:37.640 - So while I don't know why we were spared, I can say two minutes down the road because 02:20:37.640 --> 02:20:43.800 - it don't stay very far from Economy Inn and some of the Cardinal Glen area. 02:20:43.800 --> 02:20:46.080 - They were not spared. 02:20:46.080 --> 02:20:52.800 - And I just want to say that I appreciate the public comment that came in to talk very passionately. 02:20:52.800 --> 02:20:58.620 - The pictures that we've seen of the post office and the damage driven around in the neighborhoods 02:20:58.620 --> 02:21:01.040 - and in that particular area and seen it. 02:21:01.040 --> 02:21:06.000 - I just want to give also a special shout out to Perry Clear Creek Station 22 Fire Department 02:21:06.000 --> 02:21:11.280 - and Fire Station because they were also definitely in the thick of it. 02:21:11.280 --> 02:21:15.660 - So any type of department in Monroe County that had something to do with that. 02:21:15.660 --> 02:21:18.580 - Also the assessor's office had to go out and assess the damage. 02:21:18.580 --> 02:21:23.520 - We say thank you because those are long hours that you clocked and will continue to do so. 02:21:23.520 --> 02:21:28.120 - So we definitely appreciate that. 02:21:28.120 --> 02:21:34.160 - Some other things that I wanted to say and I lost my page. 02:21:34.160 --> 02:21:42.360 - Some fun things that we have that are coming up on the horizon is next Tuesday at 330 is 02:21:42.360 --> 02:21:47.960 - the moment that we all, maybe some, have been waiting for and it is the groundbreaking of 02:21:47.960 --> 02:21:55.440 - the convention center that I just, you know, former council member Jeff McKim and our beloved 02:21:55.440 --> 02:22:00.200 - former council member, the late and great Cheryl Munson worked really hard in making 02:22:00.200 --> 02:22:05.800 - sure this day has come and it will be here next Tuesday at 330. 02:22:05.800 --> 02:22:07.640 - I will be giving some brief remarks. 02:22:07.640 --> 02:22:14.360 - I believe Commissioner Julie Thomas will also be giving some remarks as well as some of 02:22:14.360 --> 02:22:16.680 - our city elected officials as well. 02:22:16.680 --> 02:22:18.600 - So I'm looking forward to this day. 02:22:18.600 --> 02:22:23.820 - I'm looking forward to all the headache, all the blood, sweat and tears that will come 02:22:23.820 --> 02:22:29.600 - and have come beforehand will finally pay off and we will really see this come to light. 02:22:29.600 --> 02:22:32.260 - So I'm looking forward to that. 02:22:32.260 --> 02:22:38.000 - The other thing that I will, vote center, I'm not even going to go there with that. 02:22:38.000 --> 02:22:43.760 - So we know what happened and that's, it's a shame. 02:22:43.760 --> 02:22:51.920 - The other part is I was a little dismayed and hearing some conversations in one of our 02:22:51.920 --> 02:22:57.880 - recent meetings and something I heard that I didn't think that was true that I really 02:22:57.880 --> 02:23:04.840 - wanted to make sure that it has been said, I know somebody at the health board meeting 02:23:04.840 --> 02:23:09.320 - had mentioned that the county is under a higher end freeze and we are not. 02:23:09.320 --> 02:23:14.040 - So I just really want to make sure that it is known that we are not under a higher end 02:23:14.040 --> 02:23:15.040 - freeze. 02:23:15.040 --> 02:23:18.600 - The KSA that we did today is not also a higher end freeze. 02:23:18.600 --> 02:23:23.540 - These are simply tactics that the council are doing because again, our friends up in 02:23:23.540 --> 02:23:27.960 - Indianapolis on Capitol Avenue has decided to make sure that we do this. 02:23:27.960 --> 02:23:30.880 - So we are trying to do this as much as we can. 02:23:30.880 --> 02:23:33.140 - I guess whether we like it or not, we're doing it. 02:23:33.140 --> 02:23:38.880 - But I just want to make sure that we are talking about that we don't have a higher end freeze. 02:23:38.880 --> 02:23:43.920 - So I just want to make sure because I got a couple of people that reached out and asked 02:23:43.920 --> 02:23:44.920 - what was this. 02:23:44.920 --> 02:23:48.960 - So to be clear, there is no higher end freeze. 02:23:48.960 --> 02:23:58.040 - The other aspect is whether we like public comment, whether that's the good, the bad, 02:23:58.040 --> 02:24:02.040 - the ugly with that and if you've probably heard me say that this evening, I say that 02:24:02.040 --> 02:24:07.920 - for a reason because we know sometimes people come in and we'll have, we've seen a whole 02:24:07.920 --> 02:24:14.680 - play of public comment and whether we liked it or not in the middle of a storm, we got 02:24:14.680 --> 02:24:15.680 - it. 02:24:15.680 --> 02:24:22.620 - However, we didn't dispel that and we didn't just dismiss it and try to figure out a way 02:24:22.620 --> 02:24:24.360 - not to stop people from coming in. 02:24:24.360 --> 02:24:29.440 - That is what democracy looks like and we should be making sure that every single person that 02:24:29.440 --> 02:24:34.840 - wants to come into any type of government meeting, whether it's a board or commission, 02:24:34.840 --> 02:24:39.240 - whether it's our particular meetings, will be heard. 02:24:39.240 --> 02:24:43.400 - So I will never, ever, ever, somebody could come in today and say, "Jennifer, I don't 02:24:43.400 --> 02:24:46.440 - like your hair today," and that's fine. 02:24:46.440 --> 02:24:51.520 - And as long as we are not personally being attacked, but there are things that we've 02:24:51.520 --> 02:24:56.000 - heard in public comment, and I think all of us can attest to this, where we might not 02:24:56.000 --> 02:24:59.440 - know what is happening until that public comment has said it. 02:24:59.440 --> 02:25:04.920 - So I appreciate public comment, and I caution anybody that wants to try to change that to 02:25:04.920 --> 02:25:09.800 - think twice before you do something that you will deeply regret. 02:25:09.800 --> 02:25:12.480 - So that's my comment on that. 02:25:12.480 --> 02:25:19.480 - My last comment, since I love talking about governor's office so much, is the fact that 02:25:19.480 --> 02:25:25.380 - I went to the Beckwith Town Hall, Lieutenant Governor Beckwith Town Hall, and it did not 02:25:25.380 --> 02:25:26.520 - disappoint at all. 02:25:26.520 --> 02:25:34.160 - I got exactly what I thought I was going to get, which was a lot of chaos. 02:25:34.160 --> 02:25:42.440 - I personally had a conversation very briefly with the lieutenant governor, and as a black 02:25:42.440 --> 02:25:47.680 - individual, I just want to say I am not reasoning or siding with anybody that thinks that people 02:25:47.680 --> 02:25:52.280 - that look like me are three-fifths of a person, period. 02:25:52.280 --> 02:25:56.240 - I cannot deal with that at all. 02:25:56.240 --> 02:26:01.340 - I know that we've had some colleagues in the city that have said that they are very grateful 02:26:01.340 --> 02:26:02.560 - for that conversation. 02:26:02.560 --> 02:26:09.080 - I'm not certain what I heard that was grateful, because I also know that I didn't hear anything 02:26:09.080 --> 02:26:13.760 - that basically said this is what I'm going to do here from Monroe County. 02:26:13.760 --> 02:26:16.800 - I just heard chaos, and I heard I'm doubling down. 02:26:16.800 --> 02:26:22.480 - I also heard the fact that I challenged him in addition to his three-fifths compromise 02:26:22.480 --> 02:26:28.680 - or compliment, because it's definitely not a dang-on compliment. 02:26:28.680 --> 02:26:33.560 - I said, because I don't know if any of y'all have realized, I've not seen the lieutenant 02:26:33.560 --> 02:26:39.000 - governor, nor have I seen the governor come down and assess the damage, and I also talked 02:26:39.000 --> 02:26:43.760 - to emergency management and thought we heard anything from them. 02:26:43.760 --> 02:26:47.240 - They look at all the news, and they get all the news sources. 02:26:47.240 --> 02:26:52.040 - My response that I got back is when I asked the question of, "Where are you? 02:26:52.040 --> 02:26:53.040 - Where were you? 02:26:53.040 --> 02:26:59.440 - Where are you coming?" is I've never been invited to come down. 02:26:59.440 --> 02:27:05.760 - Now, again, I know my role on here is I'm just four years old on this county council, 02:27:05.760 --> 02:27:13.000 - but I do know that natural disasters have happened, and I've never heard of people who 02:27:13.000 --> 02:27:19.160 - are in the thick of cleanup have to stop what they're doing and go call somebody and say, 02:27:19.160 --> 02:27:20.240 - "Can you come down? 02:27:20.240 --> 02:27:22.040 - Can you go take a look?" 02:27:22.040 --> 02:27:26.760 - So I am not going to be the person that talks in the hot air, I'm going to say, "Hey, guess 02:27:26.760 --> 02:27:27.760 - what? 02:27:27.760 --> 02:27:28.760 - Well, consider yourself invited." 02:27:28.760 --> 02:27:33.600 - So I invited him last week, I invited him with an email, and I still have yet to hear 02:27:33.600 --> 02:27:36.520 - from Mr. Beckwith or Mr. Braun. 02:27:36.520 --> 02:27:41.340 - So if anybody knows and anybody looks at this meeting, please know that the invitation is 02:27:41.340 --> 02:27:42.340 - out there. 02:27:42.340 --> 02:27:44.160 - I will continue to follow up. 02:27:44.160 --> 02:27:49.060 - Our constituents are looking for this, my constituents are looking for this. 02:27:49.060 --> 02:27:53.360 - You want to talk about that, you want to come down and look at things and do things together, 02:27:53.360 --> 02:27:55.580 - let's talk, let's go to work. 02:27:55.580 --> 02:27:59.360 - So I just want to just put that out there. 02:27:59.360 --> 02:28:05.660 - So again, I'm not saying I'm grateful for the conversation, however, I guess I am thankful 02:28:05.660 --> 02:28:16.480 - I had the courage to go up to somebody with wild beliefs to say, "This is what we need." 02:28:16.480 --> 02:28:21.240 - So if we're going to work together on that, let's do that and let's talk. 02:28:21.240 --> 02:28:23.760 - So that's all I got to say about that. 02:28:23.760 --> 02:28:27.280 - I could say a lot more, but my mom used to say if I don't have anything nice to say, 02:28:27.280 --> 02:28:28.280 - don't say it at all. 02:28:28.280 --> 02:28:29.440 - So I'm not. 02:28:29.440 --> 02:28:36.800 - So with that being said, oh yeah, one last thing is, it's graduation this upcoming weekend, 02:28:36.800 --> 02:28:41.240 - North and South graduates and all graduates of MCCSE. 02:28:41.240 --> 02:28:46.040 - So I just want to say thank you to all the teachers that are dealing with a lot of stuff, 02:28:46.040 --> 02:28:51.920 - school just ended, graduating seniors, you are about to go out into the world and unknown 02:28:51.920 --> 02:28:54.920 - and it's crazy, but I just want to say thank you. 02:28:54.920 --> 02:29:02.000 - And I take that as a privilege because I have a graduating senior that's going to happen. 02:29:02.000 --> 02:29:05.340 - So with that being said, congratulations to everybody. 02:29:05.340 --> 02:29:08.200 - And with that, we did a good job with our meeting tonight. 02:29:08.200 --> 02:29:10.720 - It wasn't four hours and we are adjourned. 02:29:10.720 --> 02:29:11.120 - Thank you. 02:29:41.120 --> 02:29:44.620 - ("Pomp and Circumstance") 02:29:44.620 --> 02:29:48.120 - ("Pomp and Circumstance") 02:29:48.120 --> 02:29:51.620 - ("Pomp and Circumstance") 02:29:51.620 --> 02:29:55.120 - ("Pomp and Circumstance") 02:29:55.120 --> 02:29:58.620 - ("Pomp and Circumstance") 02:29:58.620 --> 02:30:02.120 - ("Pomp and Circumstance") 02:30:02.120 --> 02:30:05.620 - ("Pomp and Circumstance") 02:30:05.620 --> 02:30:09.120 - ("Pomp and Circumstance") 02:30:09.120 --> 02:30:12.620 - ("Pomp and Circumstance") 02:30:12.620 --> 02:30:16.120 - ("Pomp and Circumstance")